OXFORD MICH. (WXYZ) — From students to parents, over 400 people echoed in one voice in Oxford, calling for gun reform.
One of the 10 rallies held across Michigan by ‘March For Our Lives,’ but in Oxford the group partnered with ‘No Future Without Today,’ a local movement created by a group of Oxford students, who are advocating for safer schools.
Linda Watson’s son was injured during the Oxford high school shooting.
"If we would have safe storage in Michigan, the shooter may not have gotten that gun, may not have had the gun on November 30th and my son maybe didn’t get shot,” said Watson.
One of the groups organizing the march, No Future Without Today says the goal is not to take away firearms but to push for gun storage laws, red flag laws, and universal background checks.
"We hear officials say we will talk about solutions after the grieving process is over. As a parent who has lived through such a traumatic event, do you think the grieving process ever gets over?” asked 7 Action News reporter, Faraz Javed.
"No! It doesn't. Trauma is always with you. Someone told me once, it's like a boulder that a tree kind of grows around. It's never going to end. There is never going to be the right time to actually do something, so you have to do something now,” Watson added.
The 1.5-mile march to Oxford High School started at Centennial Park, with a series of speakers sharing their horrific mass shooting experiences.
"You can still walk into any shop and walk out with a brand new semi-automatic gun in 10 minutes. But tomorrow, my best friend will still be gone. Hannah will be gone. Tate and Justin will still be gone,” said Maddie Johnson, an Oxford High School student.
Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel says it's embarrassing to see that the U.S. is the only country with a countless number of mass shootings.
"We can harden schools all we want. We can put in all the security measures in the world and we can train the kids over and over again, but it doesn't solve the problem of having guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have guns, and the wrong kind of guns,” said Dana Nessel, Michigan Attorney General.
Instead, Michigan representative Lisa Mcclain, who we spoke to over Zoom, would like to focus on mental health.
“At the end of the day, we have the Constitution and the 2nd Amendment. We need to address the person. The person is the problem,” said Mcclain.
"We have people with mental health issues all around the globe. That's not unique to America. What is unique to America are the incredibly lenient gun laws,” Nessel said.
Meanwhile, No Future Without Today will be holding more initiatives to encourage gun safety reform to save lives. For more information, head over to their Facebook page.
