Dozens from Valley join Rally for Our Lives in D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Less than a year ago, Kira Walker embarked on a weeklong bus trip through the Deep South in which she learned about the civil-rights movement and enduring lessons from that era about tolerance, compassion and civic responsibility.

Now she’s put them into action.

“I wanted to be part of the movement for gun control, and see kids change history,” the Youngstown Early College junior said, referring to what motivated her to be part of Saturday’s historic Rally for Our Lives events.

Walker was one of about 50 Mahoning Valley residents who left by bus early Saturday morning from Choffin Career and Technical Center for the five-hour ride to the nation’s capital, where they joined an estimated 500,000 people for the rally aimed at calling attention to what organizers see as a need to ban military-style assault weapons outside the military and tighter background checks for those purchasing any firearm.

Launching the rally were students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the scene of the Valentine’s Day mass shooting in which 17 students and staff were killed.

The event “is created by, inspired by and led by students across the country who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings,” the organization’s website states.

More than 800 such rallies took place in cities across the country and around the world.

Read more about the Washington event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.