Sarasota student activists teamed with current and former students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday to encourage young people to vote and continue the conversation of gun control after 17 were killed at the Parkland high school in February.
Nearly 200 people packed into the Jack J. Geldbart Auditorium at Selby Library, with 30 in an overflow room, to listen to thoughts on how the youth movement is focusing on gun violence. The panel was made up of Riverview High School students Katy Cartlidge, Reagan Fox and Hailey Landry as well as March For Our Lives activists Delaney Tarr, Sarah Chadwick, John Barnitt and Brendan Duff.
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas joined local student activists at a town hall meeting in Sarasota at Selby Library Wednesday.
Tiffany Tompkins
State Rep. Margaret Good, D-Sarasota, moderated the event.
Questions were geared toward how the movement began and where they see its future. To them, it's all about having open, respectful discussions about gun policy, especially with those who may not agree with their 10 talking points on "how to save lives," which include funding gun violence research and a nationwide ban on semi-automatic assault rifles.
Tarr, a Parkland survivor, said that at the start they didn't know a lot about gun policy.
"It was a lot of learning on the fly," she said. "We had to educate ourselves and quickly."
Speaking with legislators was a big part of that. But
