The 50 Miles More: Massachusetts march in 2018, led by local youth activists, started in Worcester on August 23rd and ended August 26th with a rally at Smith & Wesson in Springfield. The protest march and rally aimed to keep gun reform issues in the national spotlight and to draw attention to the fact that young people feel unsafe in their neighborhoods, classrooms, movie theaters, restaurants and homes.
Students are targeting Smith & Wesson for their role in producing and selling weapons used in many mass shootings – including the tragedies in Parkland, San Bernardino, and Aurora – and for their weapons’ contribution to daily gun violence in communities across the country. The students asked that Smith & Wesson:
- Cease the manufacturing and distribution of all weapons outlawed under the 2004 Massachusetts Assault Weapons Ban, including weapons under Attorney General Maura Healey’s copycat weapon ban enforcement.
- Donate $5,000,000 to research violence caused by Smith & Wesson weapons and monitor illegal use of Smith & Wesson weapons to offset the lack of federal research funding for the gun violence epidemic.
Smith & Wesson did not respond to the student demands.
Watch the Facebook Live video of the Springfield at Smith & Wesson:
https://www.facebook.com/stophandgunviolence/videos/503327766794670/