On June 12, over 20 March for Our Lives protestors’ still bodies lay limp on the concrete located directly in front of NRA supporter U.S. Senator Roy Blunt’s office in St. Louis to commemorate the 49 lives lost at Pulse Night Club and other victims of gun violence.
“It’s important that we do this in front of people that support the NRA because, without those guns, they couldn’t have did what they did and they couldn’t have took as many lives,” said Morgan Lowe, a March for Our Lives protestor.
Protestors all across the country held die-ins to honor the two-year anniversary of the Pulse Night Club mass shooting on Orlando. The organizers of March for Our Lives St. Louis hosted their Die-In at Blunt’s office to protest his voting record regarding guns and gun violence. The NRA endorsed Blunt in 2016 and awarded him an A rating.
“He is one of the top four highest-paid officials by the NRA,” Lowe said. “He continues to put money above our lives. We’ve been organized since February, we’ve had events, and we’ve invited him to every single one. He’s failed to show up. So now we are bringing the fight to him. He’s not here, but people are there, and they see us, and they know what we’re doing, and the message will get back to him.”
Gun violence is a prominent issue throughout the county, especially in St. Louis, where more than 102 people had been murdered by gun violence this year as of June 2. On the anniversary of the mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub, the protestors were participating in this die-in to honor multiple lives affected by the tragedy.
“I’m a part of the LGBTQ+ community,” Lowe said. “So it’s taking power back for me personally, because we’re such a small, tight-knit community that that mass shooting really scarred everybody, even if you didn’t know somebody personally or you weren’t there. It has a lot to do with showing respect for the people that we lost that we shouldn’t have.”
The march organizers read the 49 names of the Pulse mass shooting victims, spoke about gun violence in St. Louis, and conducted a 12-minute die-in to protest Blunt stance on guns and to stand in solidarity with gun violence victims. Cars passed by and honked their horns in acknowledgment of the March for Our Lives protest.
“There have been six days in 2018 in which three or more deaths occurred in one day by a gun,” said Hannah Brown, March for Our Lives protestor. “Missouri has the most lax gun laws in the country, and St. Louis has the most gun violence in the country.”
After the successful March for Our Lives in Saint Louis attended by 12,000 people, the march’s organizers have been hosting many events to raise awareness of gun violence and bring about change, both in St. Louis and around the country.
“The reason that I’m involved in this movement is because the people who lost their lives at Pulse, at Parkland, Sandy Hook, Columbine, and everyone in St. Louis and all around the country, they don’t have the luxury of doing this,” Brown said. “They don’t have the luxury of protesting, and I think the best way to honor them is to get work done to make sure no one else has the same ending that they did.”
To keep up with the March for Our Lives movement and their future events you can follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MarchforOurLivesSTL/.
