Hundreds Gather In Rockville To Demand Action On Guns

ROCKVILLE, MD — Hundreds of anti-gun violence advocates met in Rockville this weekend to demand public policy changes after 17 people were shot dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The Maryland Chapter of "Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America" organized a rally at the Unitarian Congregation of Rockville on Sunday. Hundreds attended the meeting, which was planned before the Parkland shooting occurred.

Event organizers discussed next month's "March For Our Lives" protest in D.C., planned for March 24. Organizers are expecting half a million attendees to force politicians, namely President Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Rick Scott, both Florida Republicans, to take action on gun control.

"I was very upset and shocked by what happened in Florida," Brigid Howe, the Executive Director of Nonprofit Montgomery, said at the meeting, according to ABC 7. "But I've been upset and shocked by what's happened in so many schools, churches, shopping malls, and movie theaters."

Moms Demand Action is also lobbying for a new set of bills to keep guns out of the hands of convicted domestic abusers. While it's currently illegal for convicted abusers to possess guns in Maryland, protesters believe there needs to be a more secure process to ensure the abuser gives up their firearms.

Similarly, CourtWatch Montgomery—a watchdog group focused on improving the safety of domestic violence victims and their children—started the organization in 2010 because they saw judges "regularly failing to let respondents know that guns had to be turned in, and not letting respondents know that violating a protective order was a crime."

See Related:

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

"For domestic violence survivors, guns can have deadly consequences. When an abuser has a gun in the home the chances of a survivor being killed go up 500%," the organization says.