SARASOTA, FL (WWSB/RNN) - If you drove through downtown Sarasota or Bradenton Saturday, chances are you spotted demonstrators taking part in the national "March for our Lives" movement. While there were thousands of adults in the crowd, all eyes were on the students, who are fighting for stricter gun laws.
"We just can't let this happen again. We can't let this continue in our country," cried Riverview High School senior Lauren Bell.
Students argued at Sarasota's march that they don't know a world before the deadly Sandy Hook and Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shootings.
"Children were just slaughtered in their school where they believed they were safe," remembered Bell.
"Kids are nervous, anxiety gets them, so it's a really big problem now," said Lakewood Ranch High School sophomore Isabel Uribe of her classmates.
Sarasota's march, which gathered about 20,000 people, and Bradenton's march, bringing together about 1,000, featured some of the area's youngest demonstrators.
"Since I am not 18 and I cannot vote, this is another way for me to have a voice," said 10-year-old Esther Mueller, who attended Sarasota's rally while on vacation from Chicago.
The crowds at Bradenton and Sarasota's rallies fought for tighter gun control, weeks after Governor Rick Scott enacted the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which raises the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21, and allows local officials to decide if they want to arm school staff.
"If their solution was looking at 'maybe we should have school personnel who are vetted and trained to be able to defend school children in an active shooter situation' that might make some sense," argued Rod Thomson, Founder of The Revolutionary Act conservative website.
"Until we have sweeping changes in gun control and mental healthcare, I have very little faith that would make a huge difference," said teacher Kim McCabe.
Thomson believes the demonstrators point is moot, claiming fewer guns will not result in a lower crime rate.
"It's not the guns its the people. The problem is who is using the guns and where they're using them," said Thomson.
While Florida's new gun control law provides nearly $70,000,000 in mental health funding in schools, protesters are fighting for more to be done at the federal level.
"Making it harder to get guns will certainly prevent these things from happening," said Bell.
Copyright 2018 WWSB via RNN. All Rights Reserved.
