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SALT LAKE CITY — The debate over gun control that has grown since the deadly Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland, Florida culminates today in a series of marches nationwide asking for lawmakers to take action to prevent further deaths.
The "March For Our Lives," organized by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, advocates for gun control reforms.
In Salt Lake City and other areas around the country, people also are marching in support of Second Amendment rights. Click on the headlines below to read more about the protests.
Competing marches for school safety planned for Saturday in Utah
Salt Lake City is playing host to two different marches on Saturday with differing views on gun control and how best to keep schools safe.
“There’s going to be a lot of heightened tensions,” said Meg Flynn, a senior at Brighton High School. “Our hope is that we can each have our own separate marches.”
Flynn is part of the nationwide “March for Our Lives” movement that has hundreds of marches planned around the country. She and other Utah high school students plan to gather at West High School at 11:00 a.m. Saturday and then walk to the nearby Utah Capitol building.
“We’re thinking it’s going to be pretty big,” Flynn said of the expected crowd, noting that students from Utah County are carpooling to Salt Lake City to join them.
Hundreds of Utahns plan to join ‘March for our Lives’ and pro-gun march
SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds in Utah plan to join the nation Saturday in the “March for our Lives” at the Utah Capitol, although a second group of demonstrators will also be there—with a different view.
Pro-gun marchers with the group, Utah Gun Exchange, will advocate Saturday for fortified schools and more armed teachers, while hundreds of Utah students will take to the street to rally with the mission to urge lawmakers to pass gun regulations.
Utah Gun Exchange March Organizer Bryan Melchior, said his organization wants to bring attention to its “EduCarry” program that is aimed at improving school safety and helping more teachers get concealed carry permits.
“Our message is the same, we want to secure our children,” said Melchior.
