400+ Rally in West Chester Urging Laws To End Gun Violence

WEST CHESTER, PA - Carrying signs saying “Enough is Enough” and “End Gun Violence,” hundreds rallied outside the Historic Chester County Courthouse calling for lawmakers to either strengthen gun safety laws or resign.

Gun safety advocates said all lawmakers who do not support strengthening gun control laws in the wake of the Texas Massacre of 18 children and two adults should resign immediately.

More than 400 advocates for gun safety wore orange T-shirts to demand a future free of violence and to symbolize those killed and wounded by gun violence.

The group was brought to tears when West Chester song writer Stephanie Markstein sang, “Final Kiss Goodbye,” about the loss of loved ones to violence.

Emotions in the audience were ramped up as speakers called for action and told personal stories of gun violence.

“I am tired of elected officials not representing us,” Cassandra Jones, a community activist and former West Chester councilwoman, said. “Get those people out of office. Resign now.”

Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell called for legislation to strengthen background checks, ban assault weapons and strengthen gun safety to end gun violence.

“Just last week, we lost two lives and an unborn child,” Maxwell said. “Too many lives are lost to gunfire.”

Mamadou Kallie, 23, is in jail without bail on charges of fatally shooting Tiara Rodriguez-Diaz, 20, the mother of his 22-month-old son, and Kimberly Ortiz-Zayas, 20, who was five months pregnant.

Mother who lost daughter

Victims who suffered gun violence and lost loved ones to gun violence shared stories of long-lasting pain and suffering they experience.

Michelle Robertson shared that her daughter, Bianca, was fatally shot in a road rage incident on June 28, 2017 when she was driving on Route 100, just north of 202 in West Goshen Township.

She had just graduated from West Chester Rustin High School and planned to go to Jacksonville University.

David Desper,now 33, was sentenced to 20 to 40 years after pleading guilty to third-degree murder.

“I am broken,” Roberson said. “There are a lot of broken parents. Those 19 parents in Texas are aching. I know their pain. The pain is indescribable.”

Roberson said she is especially angered when she hears people say that guns don’t kill people, people do.

“We have to continue to do this until someone in the White House says ‘we had enough’,” she said of the rally for gun safety.

Survivor of gun violence

Gunshot survivor Starr Cummin Bright, 66, said 31 years ago she was shot by a stranger at a church meeting in southern Chester County.

At the time, Bright said, her children were young and she was working as a veterinarian
“I am lucky to be alive,” she said. “I spent a year in anger. Clearly the ramifications of gunshot wounds stay with us.”

Bright said the man who shot her did not have a license to carry a gun.

“We need to change the gun reliant culture,” she said.

The man was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill.

The rally was hosted by nonprofits including Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Ceasefire USA, GunSenseUs, and UUJustice PA.