Voices in the Crowd: What #MarchForOurLives Protesters Told Us

“We shouldn’t be accepting all these deaths as the cost of the Second Amendment. There has to be another way to be free.”
— Sarah Lilian, a high school senior from who took a 3 a.m. bus from Westchester, N.Y. with 2 friends to be at the Washington march.

“I’m here today because our leaders are acting like children. And our children are acting like leaders... . I think what you are seeing is a major cultural shift. We are going to get some gun control. We are going to have some losses first and take some smaller steps. Then we are going to take some bigger steps.”
— A Maryland high school teacher who declined to identify himself.

“To see kids under desks and hiding in the corner—that is not going to save them. Gun control is going to save them."
—Cristal Dias, Howell, New Jersey

“I’ll be sitting in class and thinking, if something happens, can I get out? And that happens about every class.”
—Morgan Dias (Cristal Dias’s daughter), a high school student in Howell, New Jersey

“We are not kids that are just hiding behind a screen. We are going to actually go out and do things. In November 2020, we will be able to vote, and we are going to vote them out... . It’s easier to get a gun than it is to get a job.”
—Jakari Hudson, a high school student from Burlington, North Carolina

“If you can’t change your mind, change your seat."
— Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to politicians who are not open to revising gun laws

“I’m a former gun owner. I believe in the Second Amendment [but] that last shooting—it’s enough. I’m done. I don’t care if they go overboard and enact laws that are detrimental to the Second Amendment. It’s just … young people should be able to live their lives.”
—Allan Winn, 75, who drove from his home in Atlanta to join the Washington D.C. march.

“I think we are ready to make some changes in the world we are living in.”
—Haley Moran, a high school student from West Brookfield, Mass.

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