GREENFIELD — With signs, slogans and songs, people gathered at the Town Common to lend their voices to a national discussion about gun violence in America.
Dozens of people — from young to old — were there attending the Greenfield leg of the March for Our Lives demonstration from noon to 3 p.m.
Major March for Our Lives demonstrations took place across the country at the same time, including in Washington, D.C. and Boston, and western Massachusetts also saw demonstrations in places like Northampton and Amherst.
But Greenfield’s event wasn’t in collaboration with other rallies, nor was it student-organized, as many others were.
Instead, it was set up by one concerned parent of two schoolchildren who initially planned on demonstrating at the Town Common alone.
“I have a daughter, Ella, who is 12, and a son, Noah, who is 14, and I’m just thinking about them,” said organizer Alex DeMelo.
March for Our Lives came in the wake of several deadly school shootings in the U.S., including in Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 17 people at Stoneman Douglas High School, as rising concerns about gun violence have prompted calls for stricter gun laws.
In Greenfield, demonstrators held signs reading “never again,” “peace” and “children say no,” and sang folk songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan to lend their support to the movement.
“This shows us that we don’t have to do much to get people together for a cause like this,” said DeMelo, who posted a notice on Facebook a few days ago to spread word of the event.
Students from Four Rivers Charter School and Greenfield High School as well as from Deerfield Academy came and held signs, and drivers honked their horns in approval as they drove by.
“For me, I’m just thinking it’s way too easy and way too accessible for everyone to get an AR-15,” said Maya Laur of Wendell, a sophomore at Deerfield Academy, in reference to a popular semi-automatic rifle.
Laur said she researched gun laws for a paper she wrote in school, and was disturbed to find out how cursory — or even nonexistent — background checks for gun sales were in some places.
Laur’s twin brother, Sam, also attended the rally, and said students should lead the charge when it comes to speaking out against gun violence.
“My dad was saying this is like our generation’s Vietnam,” Sam Laur said. “Being a student, it’s really powerful. There’s some fear involved.”
Others, too, expressed fear for their own safety or for the safety of others. DeMelo’s children go to school in Connecticut — not far from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children were shot and killed in 2012.
“People need to share their thoughts, their emotions,” DeMelo said.
“You speak with anyone and they want to do something about this. We feel shame as adults,” added the actor and professional caregiver, who had never been involved in activism before.
DeMelo took a video of the event, which he plans to spread online, and also said he will continue to be an activist.
He specified that he does not support a blanket ban on guns in the U.S., but feels background checks should be enforced and thorough for people wishing to buy a gun.
“I have to respect people’s rights,” DeMelo said. “If you want guns or to hunt, that’s OK. America is a free country. The fact that there’s no serious background check on a person who buys guns, that is insane.”
DeMelo printed the mission statement from the March of Our Lives website and handed them out at the demonstration. One woman, Barbara Lockhart, read hers aloud.
“Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear,” she read. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Change is coming. And it starts now, inspired by and led by the kids who are our hope for the future. Their young voices will be heard.”
Reach David McLellan at: dmclellan@recorder.com