Moms Demand Action Marches in Rehoboth
About 65 participants marched on the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk late Friday afternoon to bring attention to gun violence. Sherrie Walker, a representative from the local chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety in America, said they are a nonpartisan group that advocates for background checks, gun safety courses and safe gun storage.
Gun violence, she explained, is the number one killer of children in America, surpassing car crashes and cancer. “Here in Delaware and Maryland,” Walker said, “we have over 800 deaths every single year from gun violence, and our aim is, through education and legislation, to reduce that number.”
“We are not trying to take anyone’s guns away from them,” she points out. “Going forward, we are trying to keep them safe through safe storage, through safe legislation, safe practices,” she said.
The local chapter meets monthly in Rehoboth Beach.
Wear orange weekend started 11 years ago after Hadiya Pendleton marched in Obama’s inaugural parade. Eight days later, back home in Chicago, the 15-year-old was killed in a park, an unintended victim of deadly gunfire. Her family and friends decided to wear orange to commemorate her loss for what would have been her birthday weekend.
“Our main thrust is to honor the victims and the survivors and to have safer practices going forward,” Walker added.
