‘It had to be me’: San Diegans march to end gun violence after recent mass shootings

When the Columbine taking pictures occurred greater than 20 years in the past, Patricia Maisch thought: Somebody ought to do one thing.

After the Virginia Tech bloodbath years later, Maisch questioned: Why isn’t anybody doing something?

Then in 2011, Maisch discovered herself standing close to Gabby Giffords when a gunman shot the Congressmember and a number of others in Tuscon. Six died, together with a 9-year-old woman.

“It needed to be me,” Maisch, 73, instructed a whole bunch of individuals in entrance of the County Administration Heart on Saturday. Looking at lecturers, college students, survivors of gun violence and victims’ family, she stated, “You’re my heroes.”

Scores of individuals rallied this weekend at three occasions across the county to demand Congress ban assault rifles, develop background checks and move different new gun legal guidelines within the wake of current mass shootings in New York, Texas and Southern California.

The rallies had been timed to coincide with others all through the nation, and a number of other individuals interviewed stated current bloodshed pushed them to attend or assist arrange protests for the primary time.

“All of you shouldn’t need to spend your Saturday morning telling Congress to do its job,” Democratic Rep. Scott Peters, who’s operating for reelection within the fiftieth district, instructed the downtown crowd. “In the present day, as arduous because it appears, I ask you to not lose hope.”

In North County, highschool college students helped oversee a march in Encinitas.

Kara Chine, a co-organizer and instructor on the close by Grauer College, estimated that greater than 100 individuals confirmed as much as Moonlight Seashore.

In Metropolis Heights, dozens honored victims at Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park, in response to Ron Marcus, president of San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention. The native nonprofit helped arrange Saturday’s occasions with a bunch of teams that advocate for extra gun legal guidelines, together with March for Our Lives and Workforce Sufficient, in addition to the ministry Shaphat Outreach.

The downtown rally drew a variety of ages, from toddlers in strollers to at the least one retired instructor in a wheelchair. San Diego police blocked visitors as two blocks swelled with marchers, who cheered at any time when vehicles honked.

At Waterfront Park, a gaggle of center college ladies had been struck by the sheer variety of individuals at their first gun violence prevention march.

All spoke fluently concerning the energetic shooter coaching they’d obtained at Francis Parker College. Few may have been a lot taller than 5 toes, however they stated they knew to “seize a limb” in the event that they ever needed to combat an armed man.

Their college’s sprawling campus, gates and safety guards did make them really feel protected, they stated.

“We’re empathetic to the opposite faculties that don’t have what we’ve got,” stated Scarlett Cline, a seventh grader.

The demonstrators marched from the San Diego County Administration constructing in the direction of downtown. The protest was timed to coincide with related rallies throughout the nation.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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California has the strictest firearm legal guidelines within the nation, in response to the Giffords Legislation Heart to Stop Gun Violence.

Proponents of extra oversight draw a straight line from state regulation to the truth that California has one of many lowest firearm loss of life charges within the nation, in response to the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management.

Whereas hundreds had been gunned down in 2020, that amounted to fewer than 9 deaths per 100,000 residents, knowledge exhibits.

Solely six states had decrease charges.

Whereas no counter-protestors seemed to be downtown, gun rights supporters typically level to the shootings that occur regardless of strict legal guidelines as proof that extra regulation shouldn’t be the reply.

Seventy-seven homicides and practically 150 suicides in San Diego County concerned firearms in 2020, in response to the latest annual report from the medical expert’s workplace.

Mentioned one other method, weapons had been a part of nearly 60 % of all homicides, making it the main technique of loss of life for that class, the report stated. Related shares had been reported partway by way of final yr.

Native gun-rights advocates have asserted their Second Modification proper to self-protection in a number of current federal lawsuits difficult California’s gun restrictions — and judges have in lots of instances have backed them up by placing down sure legal guidelines as unconstitutional. The authorized battle over the state’s matrix of guidelines continues to unfold on the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals — and a key opinion pending on the U.S. Supreme Court docket may rewrite how such instances are determined nationwide.

Some lecturers downtown stated, along with new gun legal guidelines, they needed college districts to take a position extra closely in psychological well being care.

“We’ve been saying that for years,” stated Dana Quinn, a third-grade educator at Ocean Seashore Elementary.

Round them, handmade indicators — “No extra ideas and prayers,” “Am I subsequent?” — wobbled within the breeze. Between two buildings on Third Avenue, chants of “Gun management now” bounced off stone and concrete to create a tunnel of sound.

Within the crowd was Tom Teves, whose son Alex was murdered a decade in the past within the Aurora, Colo., theater taking pictures.

Though he has typically spoken publicly concerning the expertise, Teves on Saturday merely wore a button with Alex’s face to indicate what his household had gone by way of. The grief remained uncooked.

“It doesn’t go away. It by no means goes away,” he stated in an interview along with his spouse. “You possibly can’t repair us.”

The U.S. Home of Representatives voted Wednesday to boost the age restrict for purchasing semi-automatic rifles and ban magazines that maintain greater than 15 rounds of ammunition.

The invoice has little likelihood of passing the Senate. Lawmakers proceed to debate a potential compromise.

The Related Press contributed to this report.