Roskam Chats With Glenbard, Wheaton North Students By Phone

GLEN ELLYN, IL -- Students from Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, and surrounding areas met with Rep. Peter Roskam by phone Saturday to discuss the ongoing March for Our Lives movement and issues of gun control in schools. The phone meeting came nearly a month after Roskam declined an invitation to a March for Our Lives town hall with students and his challenger in the upcoming election, Democrat Sean Casten.

Roskam said he couldn't attend the initial town hall due to a scheduling conflict.

Several students from Glenbard North, West, East, and Wheaton North were on the phone call. Media were not invited to attend the phone call with Roskam.

Students told Daily Herald the call was a mixture of students who spoke out in favor of gun reform and students who were in favor of the 2nd Amendment. One student said they felt the meeting with Roskam "wasn't very politically divisive."

The March for Our Lives town hall in early April also had a strict rule about no politicizing. Students at that event had expressed disappointment that there wasn't as much representation from students as they expected, let alone from students with opposing views.

Ahead of Saturday's call with Roskam, one event organizer called it "an important next step for the local #enough movement!"

The March for Our Lives and #enough movements were started after the Feb. 14 massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Since then, students across the country have mobilized with rallies, protests, town halls, and other initiatives to help create discussion about gun violence in schools.

Image credit: Liana Messina/Patch