Seniors Brooke Shapiro and Macie Lavender held a press conference for local news stations during seventh period Wednesday, March 21, giving details about why they pushed for the nation-wide gun control movement “March For Our Lives” to spread to the Tampa area.  

If given teacher permission, students could leave their seventh period class and attend the press conference which attracted several news stations, including the Tampa Bay Times.  

“I only heard about [the press conference] a couple of days ago, and it was something I realized I needed to attend,” senior Joshua Rutledge said. “I feel so strongly towards this whole catastrophe going on- something needs to happen… and nothing was happening. [This meeting] was a big message to our legislators that you aren’t doing anything, so we’re going to do something.”  

“March For Our Lives” is a student-led movement that is pushing for gun control, namely banning bump stocks and raising the legal age to buy a gun from 18 to 21.  

“I don’t know what it is about Americans [being] so obsessed with guns,” sophomore Megan Ciemnolonski said. “It’s definitely not as important as people’s lives, especially children’s lives, who have so much to give and so much to accomplish and still so much left. It’s obviously something a lot of people- especially students- feel very passionate about.”  

Students have already spoken out against school shootings previously with a sidewalk chalk mural protest and a white T-shirt solidarity day.  

“I want [this movement] to make change, and I think it will,” junior Alex Collins said. “I think it’s going to really show… that we’re not messing around anymore. [The shootings have] happened too many times and it’s going to keep happening unless we do something to positively change it.”  

Calls for change to current gun control policy have erupted since the Parkland shooting on Valentine’s day.  

“[The Parkland survivors] completely inspired us,” senior and co-organizer of the Tampa “March for Our Lives” Brooke Shapiro said. “They took their grief and fear and turned it into action and something positive… we were not being heard before, now there is a platform… to speak out.” 

Co-organizer and fellow senior Macie Lavender described Emma Gonzalez, a Parkland survivor, as ‘the face of gun control.’  

“We owe the Parkland survivors everything,” Lavender said. “They gave us a seat at the table… it is safe to say that the students in Parkland set a fire and they have inspired a generation. Taking the concerns seriously is a crucial part of this movement.”  

The march on Saturday will also have voting registration opportunities, including opportunities for 16-year-old students to register early.  

“This is the first step of many,” Lavender said. “We want to show the unity and strength of the Tampa area and give students a platform to express their anger. We are asking for simple measures that are nonpartisan and shouldn’t be controversial.”  

The event is nonpartisan and open to all ages, and signs are allowed if they don’t have profanity. It’s estimated that 5,000 people will be attending to march around the University of Tampa, ending at the Poe parking garage. 

“We all have the power to create change as an individual,” Shapiro said. “but through a movement, we can do so much more. Our fear unites us, and I think that hope will unite us… this is a domestic violence issue… a black issue, a feminist issue… we’re taking the anger that has been building up for the past few years and combining it into one movement.”   

“March For Our Lives” is completely founded, facilitated, and led by students across the nation.  

“We have come up in an era that we have to be fearful… of gun violence,” Lavender said. “It’s deeply personal. We’ve been silenced for too long by an inactive government. We’re happy to lead the movement if that’s what it takes to get change to happen.” 

The March is set to occur on Saturday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Kiley Garden in Curtis Hixon Park. Organizers have said if counter-protests arrive to not engage, as the Tampa Police Department is working to keep them separate from the March.