SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A student carried a sign at the March for Our Lives in Washington D.C. (Photo: mathiaswasik/Flickr/cc)
After Jacksonville Shooting, Students Plan Protests at Offices of NRA-Backed GOP Senators Who 'Prioritize Profit Over Lives'
"This is about politicians that have chosen NRA money over lives," says organizer Rebecca Heimbrock. "It's life or death."
Aug 27, 2018
Following a Sunday shooting in Jacksonville, Florida that left at least three people, including the gunman, dead and several others injured, student activists--galvanized in the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February--are planning to protest Tuesday afternoon at the offices of Republican senators backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
"Those who take money from the NRA--whether they are a senator, congressman, or failed sitcom actress--side [with] a negligent industry that has made gun violence an American staple."
--Matt Deitsch, March For Our LivesJust hours after the Jacksonville shooting, 15-year-old Rebecca Heimbrock of Middletown, Maryland tweeted: "In light of Jacksonville, on Tuesday @ noon we are sitting in at the offices of senators that have taken money from the NRA. We are TIRED of the BS. The only way to take down the NRA is to keep the pressure high."
Heimbrock's call for Tuesday afternoon protests quickly spread virally across the social media network, with a retweet from David Hogg, who survived the February shooting in Parkland, Florida, and since then has gained national attention for his activism promoting stricter gun laws.
Protests are reportedly planned for the offices of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as well as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who have garnered high praise and substantial support from the NRA's political action committee.
As with the nationwide walkouts that followed the Parkland shooting earlier this year, students will wear orange, and plan to share updates on social media with the hashtag #OrangeOut.
The Guardian reports that Heimbrock already has confirmed at least two speakers for Tuesday: "one student who had lost her cousin at a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, in May, and another student from Great Mills High School in Maryland, the site of a smaller school shooting in March."
Heimbrock, who has attended a pair of sit-ins in Washington, D.C. and helped organize a protest earlier this month outside the NRA's headquarters in Virginia, told the Guardian she is "cautiously optimistic" that the youth-led movement--which has included mass efforts to register young voters--will lead to more victories in the upcoming midterms for candidates who support tougher gun laws.
"I want to believe that people are hearing student voices," she said, "but I'm also worried that people are going to assume that there's this big blue wave, and they're not going to bother to go out to the polls."
"This is about politicians that have chosen NRA money over lives," she added on Twitter. "It's not partisan. It's life or death."
This is about politicians that have chosen NRA money over lives. It's not partisan. It's life or death. Join us as we send the message to those who prioritize profit over lives, we will vote you out despite your political party
-- Rebecca Heimbrock (@radishrebecca) August 27, 2018
Heimbrock was far from the only young activist to turn to social media on Sunday to call out lawmakers for their continued failure to curb gun violence across the country. Survivors of the Parkland shooting as well as family members of survivors and victims tweeted messages directed at elected officials and the NRA:
Others expressed sadness and frustration, tweeting with the hashtag #AnotherFLShooting:
The protest plans come less than a week after a New York Times report that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is considering using public funds to arm teachers, sparking alarm among lawmakers, educators, parents, students, and gun control advocates. After the Parkland shooting, President Donald Trump was widely ridiculed for repeatedly expressing his support for giving teachers guns.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Following a Sunday shooting in Jacksonville, Florida that left at least three people, including the gunman, dead and several others injured, student activists--galvanized in the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February--are planning to protest Tuesday afternoon at the offices of Republican senators backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
"Those who take money from the NRA--whether they are a senator, congressman, or failed sitcom actress--side [with] a negligent industry that has made gun violence an American staple."
--Matt Deitsch, March For Our LivesJust hours after the Jacksonville shooting, 15-year-old Rebecca Heimbrock of Middletown, Maryland tweeted: "In light of Jacksonville, on Tuesday @ noon we are sitting in at the offices of senators that have taken money from the NRA. We are TIRED of the BS. The only way to take down the NRA is to keep the pressure high."
Heimbrock's call for Tuesday afternoon protests quickly spread virally across the social media network, with a retweet from David Hogg, who survived the February shooting in Parkland, Florida, and since then has gained national attention for his activism promoting stricter gun laws.
Protests are reportedly planned for the offices of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as well as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who have garnered high praise and substantial support from the NRA's political action committee.
As with the nationwide walkouts that followed the Parkland shooting earlier this year, students will wear orange, and plan to share updates on social media with the hashtag #OrangeOut.
The Guardian reports that Heimbrock already has confirmed at least two speakers for Tuesday: "one student who had lost her cousin at a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, in May, and another student from Great Mills High School in Maryland, the site of a smaller school shooting in March."
Heimbrock, who has attended a pair of sit-ins in Washington, D.C. and helped organize a protest earlier this month outside the NRA's headquarters in Virginia, told the Guardian she is "cautiously optimistic" that the youth-led movement--which has included mass efforts to register young voters--will lead to more victories in the upcoming midterms for candidates who support tougher gun laws.
"I want to believe that people are hearing student voices," she said, "but I'm also worried that people are going to assume that there's this big blue wave, and they're not going to bother to go out to the polls."
"This is about politicians that have chosen NRA money over lives," she added on Twitter. "It's not partisan. It's life or death."
This is about politicians that have chosen NRA money over lives. It's not partisan. It's life or death. Join us as we send the message to those who prioritize profit over lives, we will vote you out despite your political party
-- Rebecca Heimbrock (@radishrebecca) August 27, 2018
Heimbrock was far from the only young activist to turn to social media on Sunday to call out lawmakers for their continued failure to curb gun violence across the country. Survivors of the Parkland shooting as well as family members of survivors and victims tweeted messages directed at elected officials and the NRA:
Others expressed sadness and frustration, tweeting with the hashtag #AnotherFLShooting:
The protest plans come less than a week after a New York Times report that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is considering using public funds to arm teachers, sparking alarm among lawmakers, educators, parents, students, and gun control advocates. After the Parkland shooting, President Donald Trump was widely ridiculed for repeatedly expressing his support for giving teachers guns.
Following a Sunday shooting in Jacksonville, Florida that left at least three people, including the gunman, dead and several others injured, student activists--galvanized in the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February--are planning to protest Tuesday afternoon at the offices of Republican senators backed by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
"Those who take money from the NRA--whether they are a senator, congressman, or failed sitcom actress--side [with] a negligent industry that has made gun violence an American staple."
--Matt Deitsch, March For Our LivesJust hours after the Jacksonville shooting, 15-year-old Rebecca Heimbrock of Middletown, Maryland tweeted: "In light of Jacksonville, on Tuesday @ noon we are sitting in at the offices of senators that have taken money from the NRA. We are TIRED of the BS. The only way to take down the NRA is to keep the pressure high."
Heimbrock's call for Tuesday afternoon protests quickly spread virally across the social media network, with a retweet from David Hogg, who survived the February shooting in Parkland, Florida, and since then has gained national attention for his activism promoting stricter gun laws.
Protests are reportedly planned for the offices of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as well as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who have garnered high praise and substantial support from the NRA's political action committee.
As with the nationwide walkouts that followed the Parkland shooting earlier this year, students will wear orange, and plan to share updates on social media with the hashtag #OrangeOut.
The Guardian reports that Heimbrock already has confirmed at least two speakers for Tuesday: "one student who had lost her cousin at a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, in May, and another student from Great Mills High School in Maryland, the site of a smaller school shooting in March."
Heimbrock, who has attended a pair of sit-ins in Washington, D.C. and helped organize a protest earlier this month outside the NRA's headquarters in Virginia, told the Guardian she is "cautiously optimistic" that the youth-led movement--which has included mass efforts to register young voters--will lead to more victories in the upcoming midterms for candidates who support tougher gun laws.
"I want to believe that people are hearing student voices," she said, "but I'm also worried that people are going to assume that there's this big blue wave, and they're not going to bother to go out to the polls."
"This is about politicians that have chosen NRA money over lives," she added on Twitter. "It's not partisan. It's life or death."
This is about politicians that have chosen NRA money over lives. It's not partisan. It's life or death. Join us as we send the message to those who prioritize profit over lives, we will vote you out despite your political party
-- Rebecca Heimbrock (@radishrebecca) August 27, 2018
Heimbrock was far from the only young activist to turn to social media on Sunday to call out lawmakers for their continued failure to curb gun violence across the country. Survivors of the Parkland shooting as well as family members of survivors and victims tweeted messages directed at elected officials and the NRA:
Others expressed sadness and frustration, tweeting with the hashtag #AnotherFLShooting:
The protest plans come less than a week after a New York Times report that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is considering using public funds to arm teachers, sparking alarm among lawmakers, educators, parents, students, and gun control advocates. After the Parkland shooting, President Donald Trump was widely ridiculed for repeatedly expressing his support for giving teachers guns.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.