Banning assault rifles was a battle cry at the Middletown rally
MIDDLETOWN – Over 1,000 students, teachers, parents, residents and elected officials rallied through the City of Middletown Saturday in support of the national March for Our Lives against school gun violence.
Middletown was one of many communities across the country that showed support for the movement addressing the recent scourge of school shootings and the future of gun legislation.
Student speakers from area schools, ranging from the elementary to high school levels, spoke passionately about their vision for the future of their schools. Students urged elected officials to take a tougher stance on dealing with the NRA, strengthening school security staff, making firearms harder to acquire for those with violent pasts or serious mental issues, outright bans on assault rifles and increased funding for mental health education and services within schools.
Meghan Dubin, a Middletown High School senior and volunteer organizer, said their message to elected officials was listen or get another job.
“I think our representatives need to know that our voice does matter and if they’re not going to support us, then we will find other officials to elect,” said Dubin.
The adult facilitator for the rally, Mary Lou Dietrich of Middletown, said their main focus for action on the issue is to get all young people, 18 and older, to register to vote, so they can utilize that leverage over elected officials.
“That is where we’re going to have the most influence,” said Dietrich. “If we get all of these young people to vote, anybody who supports the NRA is going to be out of office. That is going to be their cause. They’re going to vote them out.”
As far as policy at the local level, Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano said the city has already submitted legislation to be reviewed at the state level to remove school resource officers funding from being vulnerable to the tax cap and budgetary cuts. Also, talks with the school district on strengthening security and making SROs a permanent fixture within the schools have already occurred.
“I think it’s an important message locally and that’s what we’re hoping to accomplish here on a city school district level,” said DeStefano. “I think the school board is open to it. We’ve had some dialogue with them and I think you’re going to see some changes locally.”
