A nationwide student movement that advocates for gun violence prevention as well as more voter registration in the wake of the Valentine’s Day massacre at a South Florida school brings part of its “Road to Change” tour to Jacksonville Friday for two public events.
Our Florida Times-Union news partner reports students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who started the March For Our Lives movement after 17 classmates were gunned down Feb. 14 in Parkland, will join others from the Jacksonville area at a block party from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Jacksonville Landing.
Then they will be part of a 6:30 p.m. panel discussion at the University of North Florida’s Student Union to discuss youth activism and gun violence prevention.
Former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, was arrested at the scene of the February shooting at the high school.
On March 24 hundreds of thousands of students and other protesters took part in multiple “March For Our Lives” events across the country to protest school shootings, spearheaded by survivors of the Broward County shooting. Crowds also rallied in Jacksonville’s Hemming Park as well as St. Augustine to show support.
Since then, organizers from Stoneman Douglas began a nationwide summer tour as part of “Road to Change.”
The students are advocating for reforms that include universal comprehensive background checks for those seeking gun ownership as well as creating a searchable database for gun owners and banning high-capacity magazines and semi-automatic assault rifles.
Part of that movement includes a separate March For Our Lives tour in Florida with 27 stops, including the Landing block party with live music, games, art installations and a voter registration drive.
The national tour continues with Tallahassee on Saturday, Atlanta on Sunday and Charleston, S.C., on Tuesday, then up the East Coast to New York in August and Newtown, Conn.
March For Our Lives Road To Change Video
