More than a million students and adults took to the streets around the world on Saturday as a part of March for Our Lives.
One of the more than 800 satellite marches took place in Savannah in response to the Parkland school shooting that left 17 people dead. The local event was hosted by two SCAD freshmen, Kylie Ruffino and Devyn Bauer.
“Saturday was one of the most humbling and empowering experiences I’ve ever had,” Ruffino said.
After leading more than a thousand people from Wright Square to Forsyth Park, WSAV sat down with the two teens to find out what they had planned next.
“We’re not giving up,” Bauer said. “We’re not going anywhere.”
While they say they realize this is subjective, they will continue to push for action items including, “raising the minimum age, banning bump stocks, tightening up background checks, ending the gun show loophole.”
They say the people they met along the way on Saturday proved to the most moving aspect of the day.
“We had quite a few people come up to us and say,’Hey I was across the street from Pulse when the shooting happened.’ ‘I was in Las Vegas when that shooting happened.’ ‘I graduated from Stoneman Douglas.’ There were so many instances when the people standing in front of you could have been gone in an instant,” Bauer said.
They say they are continuing to walk in the footsteps of the student survivors of the Parkland shooting to include more than school shooting victims in their pursuit of legislative change.
“This happens every day in black and brown communities and it just gets brushed over,” Bauer said.
Now they encourage their supporters and those who attended the marches to now to take their frustrations to their elected leaders through the power of ballot of the box and the written word.
“If you’re not going to help us end, at this point, this epidemic,” Bauer said of elected leaders, “you know, we can vote you out.”
Bauer and Ruffino told News 3 March for Our Lives is planning a simultaneous Town Hall for April 7.
Stay with News 3 for more developments.