High school students marching 4 days to Paul Ryan's office for gun restrictions
“We are ready to keep the pressure on our nation’s top leaders," they say.
A group of high schoolers isn't letting the March for Our Lives end after just one day.
The Wisconsin students are now marching 50 miles from Madison to U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s hometown office in Janesville to keep the national spotlight on gun laws, according to the website for the march, 50milesmore.org.
The four-day march of Shorewood High School students is called "50 Miles More." Students are marching 12 miles a day during their spring break, starting Sunday and ending with a rally in front of Ryan’s office Wednesday.
“[The march] is directed at Paul Ryan for his lead role in blocking and burying any chance of gun reform again and again.” the organization’s website reads. “We are ready to keep the pressure on our nation’s top leaders until gun reform is a priority for Republicans and Democrats. We are not afraid.”
The student marchers have been showing their progress on social media, using the hashtag #50more.
The site 50milesmore.org states that the goal of the march is to stand in solidarity with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were shot to death last month, and reinforce their commitment to enact change. It also says the inspiration for the march came from the civil rights movement.
“We looked to history and an earlier generation of young leaders who fueled real change,” the website says. “In 1965, civil rights leaders organized the multi-day, 54-mile Selma-to-Montgomery marches. Those 54-long miles took us a long way toward progress, and are the inspiration for our march.”
Hundreds of thousands of energized protesters rallied in all 50 states and in Washington, D.C., Sunday in the March for Our Lives demanding action toward ending gun violence in the U.S.