Boise (670 KBOI News) – The nationwide March for Our Lives rally took to the streets of Boise Saturday morning, and in other cities in Idaho, to call for more gun control.
A crowd of a few thousand protesters, of all ages, turned out to remember the victims of the Parkland Florida school shooting, to bash the NRA, and to call on a host of gun control measures they want Congress to pass.
This student from Rocky Mountain High School called on her fellow students to do like their grandparents did 50 years ago.
“In the 1960s, there was a movement of protests, started by high school students, by college,” she said. “I mean, you can name the protests that happened. There’s so many.”
She went on to say mental illness isn’t to blame for mass school shootings like the one in Parkland…that NRA-supporting politicians are.
This student told the crowd there was no one cause for gun violence, but then said more gun control is what’s needed to solve the problem.
“It’s important to understand that these violent acts are a direct result of a conglomeration of things such as deterioration of mental health, a societal portrayal of gun glorification, and a lack of gun legislation. People say that improving gun legislation won’t stop the shootings. But changing legislation to make it illegal for a felon to get a gun, or an 18-to 21-year old to get an AR, cannot possibly make gun violence worse.”
(Editor’s note: it is illegal for felons to legally purchase a firearm in the United States)
The protesters carried signs demonizing the NRA, and calling for all politicians who support the NRA to be voted out of office. Other signs called for a ban of military-style semi-automatic weapons, which they referred to as “assault weapons”.
There were apparently no counter-protesters that turned out for the rally.