Gun violence survivors mourn, rejoice victories at second annual March with Oxford

Clad in orange shirts and holding hand-painted indicators, Oxford group members gathered within the city’s Centennial Park on Saturday for the second annual commemoration of an occasion they wished had by no means occurred. 

The March with Oxford, spearheaded by the student-run group No Future With out In the present day, included speeches and a march from downtown Oxford to the highschool the place, on Nov. 30, 2021, 4 college students have been killed and 7 individuals have been injured in a faculty taking pictures.

Dylan Morris and Maddie Johnson, each alumni of Oxford Excessive College and organizers of the No Future With out In the present day initiative, mentioned that the occasion was designed to recollect those that have been killed within the taking pictures whereas encouraging group members to take motion on stopping gun violence.

“We’re right here at this time to remind our legislators that our work and their work won’t ever be achieved till we aren’t fearing for our lives anymore,” Johnson mentioned.

For the reason that mass shootings at Oxford and at Michigan State College in February, a sequence of gun violence prevention legal guidelines have been handed by the primary Democratic trifecta in Michigan’s state authorities for the reason that Nineteen Eighties. 

Encompassing common background checks, excessive threat safety restrictions and protected storage necessities, the package deal signed into legislation by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in April represented a victory for organizers like Sherri Masson, who had been advocating for stricter gun legal guidelines for the reason that Nineteen Nineties. 

Masson recalled listening to in regards to the taking pictures at Columbine Excessive College in Littleton, Colo., in 1999, and the way it impressed her to take motion. She joined the Million Mother March on Washington practically 23 years in the past, and mentioned she needs that activism had been sufficient to stop two extra a long time of gun violence deaths. 

“These youngsters from Columbine Excessive College, they’d be of their mid-40s,” Masson mentioned. “Now with households of their very own and in the midst of their careers. I’ll always remember them. And that was 24 years in the past.”

Michigan’s legislative developments on gun violence prevention are seen by No Future With out In the present day as a primary step in a bigger battle to finish gun deaths. Morris mentioned that the passage of the payments earlier within the yr was a “measurable” present of organizers’ energy.

“There was a time after we thought that this might by no means occur, and advocates have been hoping and hoping that we’d make progress on this problem,” Morris mentioned. “We’ve been pushing for excessive threat safety orders, safe storage legal guidelines and common background checks for years. Now we have now them in place. They’ll save the lives of Michiganders in mass violence, home abuse, suicides and on a regular basis group violence.” 

Regardless of the victory of seeing these insurance policies signed into legislation, the win was nonetheless a reminder for Oxford households that legal guidelines like these might have prevented the deaths of their youngsters. Jill Soave’s son, Justin Shilling, was one of many 4 college students who have been killed within the taking pictures. She mentioned she wonders if stricter gun legal guidelines would have saved her from the “rage and heartbreak” she processes every day.

“There have been many individuals concerned that would have prevented their premature deaths,” Soave mentioned. “One proven fact that’s fairly clear to anybody who’s been following the story is that if the gun used to homicide my son had been locked up, there’s a very massive likelihood that he can be right here with us at this time.”

Varied advocacy teams attended the march – Be SMART, a protected gun possession group, provided free gun locks for attendees to take to safe firearms of their properties or automobiles. Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown ran a voter registration drive within the park. Pupil-run psychological well being teams provided assets for coping with anxiousness and melancholy. 

Mothers Demand Motion, a nationwide advocacy group below the umbrella of Everytown for Gun Security, recruited new volunteers and members by encouraging march attendees to enroll in textual content alerts that may inform them of motion gadgets on the state and nationwide stage. 

Michelle Smyth, who works because the chapter lead for Mothers Demand Motion North Oakland County, mentioned that her expertise as a kindergarten trainer motivated her to become involved with the group. 

“I’ve been requested a pair occasions what an energetic shooter drill seems like,” Smyth mentioned. “I’d be the primary individual, for these of you who’ve youngsters in colleges, who’s going to show your youngster about an energetic shooter. I didn’t join that job.”

Smyth mentioned that despite pushback from organizations just like the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation (NRA), she’s seen a rise of assist for the mission of Mothers Demand Motion from gun house owners and non-gun house owners alike, giving her hope for additional change.

“I can inform you that Mothers Demand Motion now has extra supporters than the NRA,” Smyth mentioned.

Nicole Barnett, a former Oxford Excessive College trainer who recalled locking down her classroom on Nov. 30, 2021, mentioned that occasions just like the march might be each cathartic and retraumatizing for survivors of gun violence. 

“Gun violence creates a core of harm encircled by concentric circles of various ranges of victims and survivors,” Barnett mentioned. 

Barnett mentioned that watching her college students arrange solidarity occasions for survivors of the Uvalde, Texas, faculty taking pictures in 2022 taught her in regards to the connections between survivors of gun violence, a extensively increasing “membership” she needs didn’t maintain including new members.

“What I discovered was that each survivor of gun violence has the same story, that the state of affairs at hand might differ, however the sounds they describe, the concern they felt, the trauma mind that kicked in and the continuing PTSD have been identical to mine,” Barnett mentioned. “On the core we had a bond that we simply prayed others would by no means should expertise.”