Marches against gun violence and to advocate for gun control legislation will occur Saturday and Sunday in four Oregon cities.
Community groups in Sherwood, Beaverton, Portland and Salem are organizing the events as part of the nationwide March for Our Lives movement. That movement started in 2018 as a youth-led response to ending gun violence after the killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Saturday’s events come in response to the killing of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Across the country, 300 marches will take place as part of the March for Our Lives movement, with the central event happening in Washington, D.C. Organizers anticipate tens of thousands of people nationwide will participate in the marches.
The group is advocating for stricter gun control laws — and has been successful in changing laws in Florida, where former Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, signed legislation to raise the age for purchasing a gun to 21, imposed a waiting period on purchases, banned bump stocks and gave police the power to use court orders to seize guns from people deemed a threat.
Jennifer Dowling on Twitter: “A “March for Our Lives” rally & march took place Saturday afternoon in Everett. #snohomishcounty #everett #washington #MarchForOurLives #seattle #GunViolence #fox13 #fox13seattle #MarchForOurLivesJune11 #shootings @fox13seattle pic.twitter.com/lxw3YhxI4d / Twitter”
A “March for Our Lives” rally & march took place Saturday afternoon in Everett. #snohomishcounty #everett #washington #MarchForOurLives #seattle #GunViolence #fox13 #fox13seattle #MarchForOurLivesJune11 #shootings @fox13seattle pic.twitter.com/lxw3YhxI4d
The event in Beaverton will be organized by the Hawaiian Civic Club of Oregon and Southwest Washington, the event in Sherwood by Sherwood Together and in Salem, the march at the Capitol is being organized by students in the Salem-Keizer Public School District, according to the group’s Instagram.
The Oregon Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, will join the March for Our Lives events this weekend.
“Educators in Oregon, and throughout the nation, are participating in the June 11 March for Our Lives because there isn’t a single one of us who hasn’t spent an evening worried sick about what we could and would do to keep our students safe if an active shooter entered our building,” OEA President Reed Scott Schwalbach said.
“We’re marching to tell elected officials that after Thurston, after Columbine, after Virginia Tech, after Sandy Hook, after Reynolds HS, Umpqua Community College, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and now Robb Elementary that the status quo is not only failing our students and educators — it’s costing them their lives.”
Marches this Weekend
Sherwood
Saturday, June 11
9 to 11 a.m.
Sherwood Cannery Square
22622 Southwest Pine Street
Beaverton
Saturday, June 11
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Beaverton City Hall
12725 Southwest Millikan Way
Portland
Saturday, June 11
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Portland State Urban Plaza
Salem
Sunday, June 12
4 to 5 p.m.
Oregon State Capitol
Vancouver
Saturday, June 11
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Vancouver Waterfront
695 Waterfront Way
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Contact Editor Les Zaitz for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on Facebook and Twitter.
