Anti-gun violence rallies planned in Mississippi Saturday

by Mina Corpuz, Mississippi Today
June 9, 2022

Three marches Saturday in Mississippi will join a national call for lawmakers to address gun violence and pass gun control measures. 

Demonstrations are scheduled in Jackson at the Mississippi State Capitol, Oxford City Hall and Fairpark in downtown Tupelo, each from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. They will happen alongside marches in Washington D.C. and across the country for March For Our Lives.

March For Our Lives formed in 2018 as a student-led organization after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. where 17 students and staff died. 

That year, students from the school and around the country went to Washington to demonstrate and call for gun control measures. 

The Saturday marches were scheduled in response to the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas where 17 students and teachers died, according to March For Our Lives.

Since the group's 2018 demonstration, there have been countless other gun violence incidents and a lack of gun control to prevent shootings, according to the organization. 

So far this year, there have been 251 mass shootings in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which counts gun violence and crime incidents daily and verifies them. Five of  this year's mass shootings occurred in Mississippi.

A mass shooting is defined as four or more people shot or killed during a single incident at the same time and location, not including the shooter.  

In 2022, there have been 450 school shootings in the county, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Five have happened in Mississippi this year. 

People who would like to participate are asked to register on the pages for Jackson, Oxford and Tupelo. Information about other marches can be found here. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.