Snow dusted the top of 4th grader Alden Duff’s curly blonde hair.
Standing 4-foot-9 on a stage in front of 1,000 protestors, the Jefferson Elementary student began his speech.
“I’m here today because there have been a lot of mass shootings lately. I want to promote common sense gun laws,” Duff said. “People are coming into our schools and killing people, and that needs to stop. Kids and teachers should feel safe in their schools, but how can they with all this happening?”
Duff’s orange sweater stuck out among the many participants in Saturday’s March for Our Lives protest through downtown Moscow. Duff said he intended for his speech to be heard in his school, but administrators barred him for sharing due to the sensitive material the week prior. Duff, undeterred, said he was inspired to join Moscow’s march in order to make his young voice heard.
Of the multiple speakers who shared their opinions and stories in East City Park, all shared a common theme: “inaction is no longer an option.”
Ari Carter, a Moscow High School junior and co-leader of the march, said voices like his should not be disregarded in political debate.
“There are a lot of hot-button issues that we’re not directly affected by, but this is something that really affects us and has been affecting us in Florida, in Newtown and Columbine,” Carter said. “It’s huge, and students have been dying. This is something that we can really stand up and say, ‘Please stop.’”
Leslie Kiebert | Argonaut Young protestors hold their signs high during the rally at East City Park for the March For Our Lives Saturday.
After gathering in Friendship Square, protestors took off down Main Street at 1 p.m. Moscow police officers were stationed sporadically throughout the march’s route.
Moscow Police Chief James Fry said he did not expect any violence or backlash during the protest. Moscow police, Fry said, often relish the opportunity to participate and oversee in community events.
“We always like to participate in these events,” Fry said. “It’s part of our community policing philosophy, to be out at these and make sure everything goes good.”
Both Carter and Emma Seckington, the march’s other co-leaders, said they were surprised by the number of people who attended the protest. Seckington said she hoped young future voters will see this protest as the turning point in American politics.
“Our representatives are not being super active. I think it’s just time for us to take action,” Seckington said. “We’re the future generations of voters, so it’s important to get involved with issues now.”
Ingrid Spence, a teacher for nearly 30 years, attended the march in remembrance of her sister, who committed suicide in October 2016. Spence said a simple background check might have prevented the family tragedy from ever happening.
“She went to one of the local stores here with a temporary driver’s license she got earlier that day,” Spence said. “She purchased the gun with no background check that would reflect any kind of hesitancy or waiting period. Three hours later, she was dead.”
Spence, who spent 22 years teaching at Moscow Middle School, said the idea of arming teachers frightened her, adding more firearms would only result in more violence.
“The idea of arming teachers is insane,” she said. “It just adds more fuel to the fire. It’s a horrible idea.”
Spence said this was her first time attending a gun-control march, despite her being politically active for many years.
“It touches on the two areas of my life: my sister and her death and the classroom itself and making sure the classroom is maintained in a safe space,” she said.
Carter, who introduced speakers once the march arrived in East City Park, said he appreciated all who attended, especially the high school and college students calling for action.
“When this came up, it was really a student issue, so we wanted to get students and community members involved,” he said.
Moscow community member Lynn McCollough, 60, also participated. McCollough and her husband Mike came bearing a sign that read “Mental health is global. School shootings are American.”
“It should be easier to vote in this country than it is to buy a gun. It’s criminal that people value their access to bullets and their rights to pull a trigger than children,” McCollough said. “Let’s just be honest, guns kill. Guns kill.”
Duff, who concluded his speech to raucous applause in East City Park, said he hopes those in attendance will take away a new perspective on gun violence.
I thought that was wrong, because how are they going to do anything about it if they don’t know what’s happening,” he said. “I heard about all the shootings, and I wanted other people to feel safe. I wanted to tell them about it.”
Duff, who wrote a letter to his representative in the summer but never received a response, said older generations should not try and silence young protestors.
“Why can’t we have a voice? We have opinions too,” he said. “Just because we’re kids doesn’t mean we’re not good enough to say anything.”
Brandon Hill can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @brandonmtnhill