Marching For Their Lives: Students, Parents Cry For Gun Reform

Officials estimated that more than 1,000 students and parents took to Huntington Town Hall on Saturday as part of “March For Our Lives” rallies held across the country and world. (Photo/Dana E. Richter)

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

More than 1,000 students and parents from across the Town of Huntington and Long Island gathered Saturday in the parking lot behind Huntington Town Hall for the “March For Our Lives” rally that coincided with hundreds of similar marches across both the country and world.

Local high school students began organizing the rally in support of gun control efforts after the Parkland, Florida school shooting that killed 17 students and faculty of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The rally in Huntington was organized by a leadership team of 14 teens representing Long Island schools, such as Half Hollow Hills high schools East and West, Harborfields, Huntington, Jericho, St. Anthony’s and Stony Brook School.

Huntington resident and March For Our Lives Long Island co-founder Avalon Fenster, 16, a sophomore at Stony Brook School, said in a Facebook post Sunday, “Thank you again for sharing the day with us and helping us launch into what’s to follow. The spirit of the event was truly moving and filled with hope, reflection, passion and purpose.”

At Saturday’s rally Dix Hills resident Melissa Zech, the sister of geography teacher Scott Beigel, who died while shielding students during the Parkland shooting, took to the stage to offer her support to the students.

“You are the generation that will not stop until change is made,” Zech said. “This is not about left or right, Democrat or Republican. This is about what is humane.”

Government officials from all levels of government reflected on the rally in Huntington, and the broader issue of gun violence in schools.

Huntington Councilman Mark Cuthbertson described the atmosphere at the event as “electric.”

“It was uplifting to see an event organized and led by young people who were speaking so articulately about gun control,” Cuthbertson said.  

Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci, who was out of town for Saturday’s rally, but estimated that crowds reached over 1,000, attended the Prayers for Peace event at the BAPS Hindu Temple in Melville on Sunday morning to remember the Parkland victims.

“It was very spiritual, and it was very good to see how the community at the BAPS Temple brought in people from across Huntington and Long Island to reflect on the people who lost their lives down in Florida,” Lupinacci said.

Two of the hundreds of children and young adults who participated in Saturday’s rally. (Photo/Dana E. Richter)

Suffolk Executive Steve Bellone, who attended the Huntington rally, urged Congress to support the student movement.

“Today, thousands of students across the country have come together to speak up and demand action so they no longer must fear for their safety. Our young people have become courageous leaders who have inspired a nation, and their voices must be heard,” Bellone said. “While local governments, law enforcement and administrators have joined forces to enhance school safety, we now need Congress to partner in our efforts. They can begin by listening to a new generation of leaders who are marching at the doorsteps of the U.S. Capitol.”

Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-Huntington), who attended a Saturday rally at Farmingdale College, urged young people to continue to advocate for the issue they believe in.

“The fact is that our leaders in Washington have failed us. There is something wrong in our country on the issue of gun violence, but it can be made right by all these young people who will keep pushing, who will demand that their voices are heard and who won’t give up on having common sense gun reform,” Suozzi said.

Huntington Station resident and president of Huntington Matters June Margolin reflected on the Huntington rally, calling the students’ activism “overpowering” and “truly inspiring.”

She said, “The last time that I can remember that we’ve seen anything similar to this was when the college kids in the 1960s were protesting the Vietnam War.”