Student Gun Control Rally Set In Wake Of 2 Maryland Shootings

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Students from across Maryland have organized a rally to lobby for improved gun control laws in Annapolis after shootings at a St. Mary's County high school earlier this year and the recent Capital Gazette mass shooting that killed five newspaper employees. Teens from Montgomery County to St. Mary's County — where a 16-year-old girl was killed in March when a classmate she had previously been in a romantic relationship with opened fire inside their school — have taken a hand in the rally.

Jaelynn Willey was one of three students shot at Great Mills High School before the start of classes in March; shooter Austin Wyatt Rollins walked into the school, fired at Willey and Desmond Barnes, 14, in the hallway before exchanging gunfire with the school resource officer. Rollins and the school resource officer fired and the teen died from his own gunshot; he used his father's Glock 9-millimeter pistol in the attack, authorities said.

Jarrod Ramos, the accused gunman charged with five counts of murder after opening fire with a shotgun at the Capital Gazette on June 28, was apparently seeking revenge for a July 2011 article the Capital Gazette published about a criminal case against him for harassing a former high school classmate so severely she feared for her life. The article was apparently a source of anger that simmered for years. He is charged in the deaths of Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters.

The rally will run from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 21, at Lawyer's Mall. Organizers say the event will open with a moment of silence for the Capital Gazette shooting victims and have speakers affected by gun violence. Those include two Great Mills High School students, plus Capital Gazette reporter Selene San Felice.

Great Mills High School student Jaxon O’Mara said the “Students for A Safer Maryland” rally is in response to futile efforts to meet with Gov. Larry Hogan about gun reform. Students feel “fed up [and] tired of being let down” by lawmakers, she told The Enterprise. Hogan has not yet released answers to a 2014 National Rifle Association survey where he earned an A-minus rating.

Maryland law allows a parent to give their child access to a parent’s handgun if the child is age 16 or older. That worries O'Mara, who cited it as a factor in Rollins' murder of Willey.

Jaelynn Willey’s mother, Melissa Willey, told the newspaper she plans to attend the rally because the state's gun laws are not strict enough. “No child should have to be afraid of going to school,” she said.

The rally will call for an increase in the state’s minimum age to purchase a firearm and laws limiting child access to guns.

In the last legislative session, Hogan signed bills that allow a judge to order gun owners to temporarily surrender their firearms if they're deemed a threat to themselves or others, and signed a ban on bump stocks, which effectively turn semi-automatic weapons into automatic guns like the one used in last year's Las Vegas massacre.

The students told the Capital Gazette that they worry Hogan will be less supportive of gun control measuresonce the November general election is over, where he is seeking a second term.

You can donate to help the families, victims and survivors of the Annapolis attack via The Capital Gazette Families Fund.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. And like Patch on Facebook!)

Photo: Lawyer's Mall in Annapolis via Google Street View