County Leaders Demand Stricter Gun Laws At Rockville Rally

ROCKVILLE, MD — Montgomery County's political leaders gathered at the Council Office Building in Rockville to demand federal and state action on gun safety Monday afternoon, about two weeks after a shooting spree killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

The leaders were joined by Montgomery County Public Schools students and called on Congress to strengthen gun safety laws.

Councilmember Sidney Katz (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville) organized the rally, saying: "The gun safety issue is not something that Montgomery County can legislate. We need to come together, work together and contact our Congress people."

"As we all know, the regulation of guns is a state and federal issue. But all issues in some way are local, and as a local elected official, I recognize the need to be vocal and to let our colleagues know 'Enough is enough,'" Katz said to the crowd.

The crowd echoed Katz, calling out: "Enough is enough!"

Although Maryland has some of the strictest gun laws in the U.S., Montgomery County's leaders called for stricter gun laws for the nation as a whole. Maryland laws include fingerprinting gun buyers, limiting firearm purchases of the mentally ill and a ban on assault weapons, Council Vice President Nancy Navarro said.

Navarro told the crowd that "Congress has failed to take action to protect Americans."

Navarro said Congress needs to provide more access to mental health counselors to those who need it, particularly in schools.

"I call on this Congress to stand on the right side of history, stand with the countless victims of these senseless tragedies all across our nation," Navarro said at the event. "...Stand up to the NRA and pass tougher gun control laws now."

Councilmembers spoke about the resolution Montgomery County unanimously passed in 2017 after a gunman killed over 50 people in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Resolution 18-938, Condemning Acts of Gun Violence, calls on “legislators in the Maryland General Assembly, the United States House of Representatives, and the United States Senate to prevent access to firearms by persons with violent or suicidal behavior, limit the number of firearms that may be purchased per month, prevent conversion of semi-automatic weapons to automatic weapons, limit magazine capacity, ban assault weapons, institute a mandatory waiting period and expand background checks at the federal level and to take any other steps to limit access to firearms for the purpose of taking a human life.”

Katz said the resolution was not enough: “We need something that is sensible, something that will work and we need to make certain that our children are being kept safe."

“None of us should be afraid to go to school every day," Matt Post, the student representative on the Montgomery County Board of Education, said. "We, as students, are not demanding a lot here. We’re asking to not be shot, we’re asking to not learn in fear, we’re asking to not be stuck as the mass shooting generation."

See Also:

• Montgomery County Students To Meet With Florida Shooting Victims
  
• Student Walkouts Pose Safety Risks: Montgomery Schools Leader
  
• Montgomery County Students Walk Out, March For Gun Control In DC
• Protest March Over Gun Violence Could Draw 500K To Washington, DC

On February 21, hundreds of Montgomery County students walked out of class to demand action on gun control. On a Facebook post, student organizers wrote: "All people in this country, particularly children, should feel safe and should not live in fear of a gunman killing them in their school, place of worship, or a nightclub. We expect our leaders to do whatever is required to keep us safe. That has not happened."

On Saturday, March 24, half-a-million people will head to D.C. for the "March for Our Lives" event. The rally's purpose is to force politicians, namely President Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Rick Scott, both Florida Republicans, to take action on gun control.

There will also be marches in Houston, London, Philadelphia and more, according to the rally's website and Facebook page.

Katz was joined by: Council President Hans Riemer; County Executive Ike Leggett; Council Vice President Nancy Navarro; Councilmembers Nancy Floreen, Craig Rice, George Leventhal, Marc Elrich and Roger Berliner; Rockville Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton; Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman; Washington Grove Mayor Joli McCathran; Assistant Chief Russ Hamill from the Montgomery County Police Department; Sheriff Darren Popkin and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney for Montgomery County Robert Hill.

Photo via Montgomery County Council