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MSD Students Host March for Our Lives Rally in Ft. Lauderdale

During rush hour in downtown Ft. Lauderdale, March for Our Lives activists rallied for increased gun control  on the steps of the federal courthouse - the same place where they challenged lawmakers by "calling BS" over four months ago.

Friday's rally was part of a state-wide bus tour that includes all of Florida's 27 congressional districts. The students say their main goal is increasing the youth voter turnout rate.

Delaney Tarr, who just graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, says the so-called March for Our Lives movement is different from other gun-control movements because it is centered around youth.

"We are student-led, and we're here to motivate everybody and empower everybody, but primarily students and the youth of America, because they've always been disenfranchised as a whole," Delaney said. "Their votes count for just as much as those older than them."

During the rally, students said that they will "vote out" lawmakers who fail them and vote in lawmakers who "take care" of them, regardless of political party.

Other students help up signs displaying the number of days to go before they're able to register to vote. Students said they want the pattern of low voter turnout among youth to reverse in upcoming midterm elections.

The Florida "Road to Change" tour end will have stops in Jacksonville, Orlando, Palm Beach, St. Petersburg, and Tallahassee, concluding on Aug. 1 in Gainsville. 

MSD student activisit speaking to television crews outside the Ft. Lauderdale federal courthouse.
Claire Thornton / WLRN News
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WLRN News
MSD student activisit speaking to television crews outside the Ft. Lauderdale federal courthouse.
MSD student activist reading poety about gun violence.
Claire Thornton / WLRN News
/
WLRN News
MSD student activist reading poety about gun violence.
Rally-goers listening to activists speak outside the Ft. Lauderdale federal courthouse.
Claire Thornton / WLRN News
/
WLRN News
Rally-goers listening to activists speak outside the Ft. Lauderdale federal courthouse.

Copyright 2018 WLRN 91.3 FM

Claire Thornton, 21, is a rising senior at Princeton University, where she is Head News Editor for The Daily Princetonian. She is majoring in English, with minors in journalism, American studies, and Slavic studies. Her independent research within Princeton’s English department focuses on Western news coverage of the Russian state. In other words, she should have majored in comparative literature.