All Chicagoans can be part of The March for Our Lives movement: Saturday In Union Park

The March for Our Lives in Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph will begin at 11 a.m., Sat., Mar. 23. It will be an opportunity for all Chicagoans to support the articulate, focused, strong and thoughtful teenagers who experienced Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School 17-person massacre on Valentine's Day.

Local students have already marched in support of real change for the issue of gun violence, as have adults. Clearly more voices are needed to force change that will eliminate the underlying reasons around these ongoing disasters. 

While many have said loudly and clearly, "Enough is Enough." A majority of the politicians in Washington, D.C. have apparently not gotten that message. 

March for Our Lives Movement
"The voices for the March for Our Lives are those of the generation that grew up with mass shootings," explain organizers. "This is the sound of millions of voices across the country pleading for change- we say enough. 

"End the violence. There has been more than enough blood, tears, and bullets- one school shooting is a school shooting too many. However, we cannot ignore the gun violence that people in the low income communities of Chicago witness in the streets, in their homes and in their classes every day." 

With this march, they call on all the adults in Congress to pass legislation that will protect and save children from gun violence. They see three ways to approach these issues: 

1. Pass a law to ban the sale of assault weapons like the ones used in Las Vegas, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, Aurora, Sandy Hook and, most recently, to kill 17 innocent people and injure more than a dozen others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
2. Prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines such as the ones the shooter at our school—and so many other recent mass shootings used.
3. Closing the loophole in our background check law that allows dangerous people who shouldn’t be allowed to purchase firearms to slip through the cracks and buy guns online or at gun shows.

Behind these goals are the facts that:

• Of the 10 deadliest shootings over the last decade, seven involved the use of assault weapons.
• No civilian should be able to access these weapons of war, which should be restricted for use by our military and law enforcement only. These guns have no other purpose than to fire as many bullets as possible and indiscriminately kill anything they are pointed at with terrifying speed.
• States that ban high-capacity magazines have half as many shootings involving three or more victims as states that allow them.
• Limiting the number of bullets a gun can discharge at one time will at least force any shooter to stop and reload, giving children a chance to escape.
• 97 percent of Americans support closing the current loopholes in our background check system. When Connecticut passed a law requiring background checks on all handgun sales, they saw a 40 percent reduction in gun homicides.
• 22 percent of gun sales in this country take place without a background check. That’s millions of guns that could be falling into dangerous hands.
• A background check should be required on every gun sale, no exceptions.

The March
Marching is to begin on the south end of Union Park and head east on W. Washington Blvd to N. Racine Ave. From there, the march heads north to W. Randolph St. and marches west on W. Randolph St. back to Union Park. 

Four days after the Parkland murders, Chicagoans showed up downtown on Feb. 18 to March against gun violence. That message needs to be louder. More voices are needed to take on this fight for life. 

Registrants online will receive text alerts. Hashtags include #MarchForOurLives, #IWillMarch and #NeverAgain.