SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Student gun control advocates and one of the survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting on Sunday completed a 50-mile, four-day march in Massachusetts to the headquarters of gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson, where they protested gun violence and weapons manufacturing.
More than 100 protesters rallied outside company headquarters in Springfield. They held American flags and signs that read “We Can End Gun Violence” and “Books not Bullets.”
The marchers condemned Smith & Wesson for making the rifle used in the February mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The group wants the company to donate $5 million to gun violence research.
Protesters said they also want the company stop making weapons outlawed under Massachusetts’ 2004 assault weapons ban. That law mirrors a federal ban that expired in 2004.
David Hogg, Student Gun Control Advocates Complete March To Smith & Wesson