Protest At NRA To Draw Alexandria Students

Kids from George Mason Elementary School will be among Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut and Florida students holding a protest at the NRA Headquarters in Fairfax Saturday, April 14 from noon-2 p.m. The rally will happen on the two-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting that killed 17 people.

Inspired by the student-organized national movement, the organizing students are focusing their effort on the NRA’s relationship with lawmakers and the effect on potential gun control measures.

Alexandria students took the spotlight after fifth-graders organized a student walkout, and 11-year-old Naomi Wadler gave a speech at the March for Our Lives. Wadler's speech about the forgotten African-American women affected by gun violence became a crowd favorite at the March 24 rally. Wadler will not be speaking at the April 14 event but could attend, organizers tell Patch.

Other George Mason students will be speaking. These speakers are confirmed for the event:

• Aalayah Eastmond, a survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. who spoke at the March for Our Lives event in Washington D.C. on March 24
• Jenny Wadhwa, a junior at Newtown High School in Connecticut and member of the Jr. Newtown Action Alliance
• Brenna Levitan, a senior at Montgomery Blair High School and Michael Solomon, a sophomore at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring, Md., co-presidents of Montgomery County Students for Gun Control, who spoke at a March 14 rally on the National Mall
• Olivia Mumma, a senior at Patriot High School in Nokesville, Va., who helped organize a school walkout and arranged buses for youth from Prince William County to attend March for Our Lives in Washington D.C. on March 24

“We are calling out the gun lobby for their opposition to even sensible changes,” says Paige Szipszky, a sophomore from Fairfax County co-organizing the protest.

The NRA Headquarters is located at 11250 Waples Mill Road in Fairfax.

Image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images