Stoneman Douglas Students Discuss Gun Violence at Osseo HS

Change doesn’t come easily, especially when it comes to issues surrounding guns. But students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., are on a nationwide tour hoping to defy the odds.

“The goal of this tour is to register as many people as possible, to educate as many people as possible,” said Matt Deitsch, a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

Sunday night, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students made their way to Osseo Senior High for a town hall meeting, where a packed auditorium listened to them and other local students talk about issues surrounding gun violence.

“A lot of people are sick and tired by what’s been going on in our country,” said Chris Grady, one of the Parkland students. “And they’re following our lead. They’re just as sick of it as we are.”

The students hope to promote initiatives such as universal background checks and a ban on high capacity magazines.

“We don’t touch the Second Amendment,” Deitsch said during the town hall meeting. “Every single one of our policies is constitutional.”

Panelists Hope Rally Sends a Message

According to event organizers, there’s a reason why Stoneman Douglas students included Osseo in its “March for Our Lives” tour.

“They specifically wanted to come to our district because our congressman, Erik Paulsen, has taken NRA money,” said Laurie Wolfe, of Indivisible MN03. “And they’re going around highlighting the districts where politicians have taken NRA money and have been traditionally voting against these kinds of reforms that they’re asking for.”

While Rep. Paulsen has received money from the NRA, he’s stated in the past that he supports a ban on bump stocks and has expressed support for laws that allow police to seize guns from people deemed by a judge to be dangerous.

“Democracy at Work”

Meanwhile, other goals for the students involved include registering people to vote and energizing their supporters at every stop.

“When I heard they were going on the ‘Road to Change,’ I was just crossing my fingers that they’d come to Minnesota,” said Olson, who established an organization called West Metro Walkout. “And I knew I’d be the first one to sign up for a volunteering list. I knew I’d be there for it.”

Now the hope of the group on the nationwide tour is to keep the momentum going.

“This is democracy at work,” Wolfe said. “I mean, this is what our country’s about.”