Parkland students stop in Milwaukee on national tour to register voters and demand change

NOW: Parkland students stop in Milwaukee on national tour to register voters and demand change
NEXT:

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) --- Survivors of the Parkland, Florida school shooting are on the road this summer as they push for gun reform. The students made a stop in Milwaukee Saturday.

The tour is called ‘Road to Change’. The students will make more than 50 stops in over 20 states as they help get people registered to vote and have a conversation on gun reform. 

Hundreds in the greater Milwaukee community welcomed the group as they took the stage along with Milwaukee students.

“We need things like universal background checks across our country,” a Stoneman Douglas High School survivor said to the crowd.

Now activist David Hogg traveling with the group this summer was one of many students inside Stoneman Douglas High School when a shooter opened fire and killed 17 people.

“After finding so much grief and negativity that caused such a violent thing to occur at my school, we're taking that grief and pain into love and compassion for all Americans,” Hogg said.

The young gun reform activists are hoping their tour helps keep their message strong into November.

“It doesn't matter what side of the isle you're on we're human beings and we all want the same thing.” Hogg said. “We want to raise a family with safety and security and we all just want to live.”  

Inside the Wisconsin Center Saturday, tables filled the hallways to help register young voters.

“If we can get youth out to vote we can get more legislators elected,” Hogg said.

Milwaukee students are finding inspiration in Parkland survivors.

“It's going to empower youth,” Tatiana Washington a student at Rufus King International High School said. “Youth in Milwaukee been fighting against gun violence for years, but what they're doing is giving us a platform, our way to speak our truth and our stories.”

Milwaukee’s energy is motivating the Parkland survivors hoping to see change.

“Everyone that was in this huge room is out there fighting for us,” Hogg said. “They're out there fighting for your kid; they're out there fighting for you and me so that we can live in a safe and just world.”

CBS 58 reached out to the National Rifle Association and Wisconsin Carry. Nik Clark with Wisconsin Carry said in a statement:

We love to see young people get engaged in the political process. We are confident that as they examine the issues and mature, they will recognize that the only person they can count on for their and their family’s self-defense is themselves.

People from all walks of life... students, parents, and citizens, find themselves at risk of deadly threats, and we believe encouraging and enabling law abiding citizens to act in their own defense presents the best solution to violence and a significant deterrence to mass shootings.


Share this article: