Press Release: Meet Generation Lockdown: Coalition of Students Skipping Spring Break to Rally in D.C. to Demand Assault Weapons Ban
Newtown-led coalition of student activists, mass shooting victims, survivors, and gun violence prevention organizations urge the Senate to pass S.25 – the federal assault weapons ban.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 24, 2023) – Students, survivors, victims, and educators impacted by mass school shootings across the country will skip the traditional American spring break pastime to instead travel to Washington, D.C. to call on the Senate to pass S.25, the federal assault weapons ban and help them survive the school day. After meeting with lawmakers, students will rally at Union Square in Washington, D.C. on Friday, March 24 at 11 a.m. ET.
Instead of counting down the minutes until recess or studying for their next big exam, today’s students are hiding under their desks and searching for updates on the latest mass shooter that might be outside their classroom. The Generation Lockdown rally brings together students, educators and parents impacted and motivated by mass shooting from schools across the country and gun violence prevention organizations including: Junior Newtown Action Alliance, Newtown Action Alliance, March for Our Lives, March Fourth, Team ENOUGH, Brady United, Change the Ref, Lives Robbed, and more.
“The students of Newtown have watched community after community fall victim to preventable shootings,” said Jackson Mittleman, rally co-organizer and Newtown Action Alliance Federal Affairs Manager. “For a decade, we have called for policies that would prevent another Sandy Hook. I’ve grown up pleading for Congress to protect my right not to be shot. We know that the assault weapons ban worked once before, and we will pass it again.” Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced S.25, the assault weapons ban, in January following the massacres in Monterey Park, Calif. and Half Moon Bay, Calif. Two weeks later and the day before the five-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., three students were murdered and four were injured at Michigan State University.
"On behalf of educators across America, we can no longer work every day and wonder if today is the day it will be our turn," said MSU Professor Brandon Van Der Heide. "We're plagued with the reality that we may have to die due to the inaction of our elected representatives, who refuse to rescue us from these tragedies of their own making. We are tired, we are broken, we are angry, and yet we are here demanding action to save not only our lives, but the lives of the students we love."
Gun violence is a tragic reality for all Americans and especially for our children: 2022 had a near-record number of mass shootings, and the Gun Violence Archive has counted 93 mass shootings already this year. Nearly 300 children under the age of 18 have already been killed by gun violence so far in 2023. Only in America will the same student survive a mass shooting in elementary school and again in college. Since Columbine occurred in 1999, nearly 350,000 students have experienced gun violence in school in America. Schools should be safe spaces, not warzones.
“I joined the Michigan State University chapter of March For Our Lives in January of this year to fight for gun safety and highlight how big of a role gun violence plays in young peoples’ lives. Little did I know that just weeks later, I myself would become a mass shooting survivor,” said Naurin Choudhury, freshman at MSU and March For Our Lives representative. “Only in America could that happen, and my generation is living the consequences. We bear the brunt of the gun violence epidemic, but we’re also the ones who will lead the movement to end it. We need immediate action to end gun violence in all its forms before the next young person is killed.”
Generation lockdown was made in America, but America can save students, too. Mass shooting fatalities decreased by nearly 70% the last time America banned assault weapons. Why? Physicians have told us they are unable to treat victims of assault weapons – the injuries are simply too grave. After all, these weapons were designed for war, not for schools. “Our members of the House and Senate are failing students daily by refusing to end this mass shooting epidemic with legislation,” said Kitty Brandtner, gun violence prevention advocate and founder of March Fourth. “As a mom of three, I refuse to accept that my children will grow up as yet another generation lockdown, traumatized in a place where they should be learning. A federal ban on assault weapons will save student lives the moment it is signed into law. We’re not asking, we’re demanding. Legislators, give American kids a fighting chance to make it to graduation and pass the ban.”
Nine out of 50 states (and Washington, D.C.) have banned assault weapons. With 41 cosponsors, S.25 would ban semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices which are commonly used to carry out mass shootings. If passed in the Senate, the future of student survival would fall with the House of Representatives.
“Lives Robbed looks forward to joining forces with the coalition for the rally on March 24,” said Lives Robbed President Kimberly Rubio. “Since the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Tex, we have watched the death toll surge due to the inaction of our nation’s leaders. The time for change is now.”
Generation Lockdown event speakers include:
Rep. Maxwell Frost (FL): First Gen Z member of Congress, former March For Our Lives activist
Jackson Mittleman: Newtown Action Alliance Student Advocate
Aalayah Eastmond: Parkland survivor, Team ENOUGH Student Advocate
Jordan Gomes: Sandy Hook survivor, Newtown Action Alliance Student Advocate
Sedona Verrett: Edmund Burke survivor, Survivors Demand
Jackie Hegarty: Sandy Hook survivor and Co-Chair of the Junior Newtown Action Alliance
Jawanna Hardy: Educator, Guns Down Friday
Kimberly Mata-Rubio: Mother of Uvalde victim Alexandria “Lexi” Rubio, Lives Robbed
Brett Cross: Father of Uvalde victim Uziyah “Uzi” Garcia
Rep. David Cicilline (RI): Sponsor of H.R.698 (Assault Weapons Ban of 2023)
Manuel & Patricia Oliver: Parents of Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver, Change The Ref
Rep. Lucy McBath (GA): Mother of gun violence victim Jordan Davis and Vice Chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force
Students, educators and participants who want to join the Generation Lockdown event in-person can register here.
Media contacts
March Fourth | media@wemarchfourth.org
Jr Newtown Action Alliance | jkelley@newtownaction.org
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