Brick Grandparents Set To Hold Walk For GrandStudents' Lives

BRICK, NJ — While students across New Jersey and across the country gather Saturday to rally for more strict gun laws, there's a group of grandparents who won't be just sitting at home watching news reports.

Calling it the "Grandparents March for Our GrandStudents," grandparents from Brick will be holding their rally outside the Brick Township Housing Authority apartments on Chambersbridge Road on Saturday. It's scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

There are 14 student rallies scheduled around New Jersey on Saturday that are being held in solidarity with the national March For Our Lives in Washington, DC, sparked by the students from Parkland, Florida, who survived the mass shooting that killed 14 of their classmates and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day. There were 16 other students injured in the shooting.

The massacre has sparked a groundswell of protests among high school students across the country that included student walkouts of varying forms at hundreds of high schools on March 14, the one-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting. Another national student walkout is scheduled for April 20, which will be the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre that killed 13 students in 1999.

Students have called for reforms to gun laws, including an increase in the minimum age, universal background checks, efforts to close loopholes in the law that allow firearms purchases at gun shows and for the banning of access to military-style firearms such as the AR-15 rifle used in Parkland and in the Sandy Hook school massacre on Dec. 14, 2012.

Ron Jampel, chairman of the Brick Housing Authority and Brick Housing Community Development Corporation, who is helping to organize the Brick grandparents rally, said their goal is to support the efforts of the students to push for changes.

"History has shown when students have taken charge of causes that affect them things get done," said Jampel, 61, who recently became a grandfather. "It’s unfortunate that our generation has failed with this one major, major issue."

He said he was approached by members of the housing complex who asked what they could do to support the students, and they decided a rally was in order. So far, 28 people have signed up.

On Friday, some of the participants gathered to make signs and everyone will be given a hat, he said.

"Each one will be writing the name and age (of one of the Parkland victims) on their hat and they'll have it to keep as a reminder," Jampel said.

Jampel said he sees this as a critical issue and said supporting the students is just as important.

"Laws are fluid and laws were made to be adjusted when need be. This is the prime example of when a law needs to be adjusted," he said. "The students right now are the ones who hve the unfortunate task of taking the lead."

It's not about taking away all access to firearms, Jampel said. "Yes, you have a right to bear arms. I would never take that away. But just like the First Amendment, there need to be limits. You can't walk into a crowded theater and yell 'Fire!' " he said.

Jampel said the goal of the local march isn't to be a distraction.

"All we’re doing as parents and grandparents is supporting them," he said. "They are on the right track for a sensible resolution."

A group of Brick Township grandparents makes signs for a planned Grandparents rally set for Saturday in Brick. Photo by Ron Jampel, published with permission