A small group of students walk into the beautiful Iowa State Capitol building, eager to present ideas on how to stop gun violence in Iowa. They’re members of March For Our Lives, an organization dedicated to ending gun violence.
After the Parkland school shooting in 2018–the deadliest in American history–students from Parkland formed an advocacy group called March for Our Lives to support gun control and reform policies. Now, it’s an organization with active branches in many states, but it is still student run and amplifies youth voices.
“March For Our Lives is a national non profit student led organization created after the Parkland shooting in Florida. There are state chapters all dedicated to advocating for gun violence prevention policies. In Iowa we have members from across the state each in a different sub group: Legislative, Organizing/DEI, and Communications,” said Angelina Dang, the Co-Executive Director of March For Our Lives Iowa, and a senior at Des Moines Roosevelt High School.
This year, the Legislative Agenda of March For Our Lives Iowa includes three main points:
“Every year MFOL creates a legislative agenda with main priorities we want to see implemented in the legislative session. This year our 3 main priorities are extreme risk protection orders, closing domestic violence loopholes and misdemeanors, and safe storage,” said Dang. “These are things we see working in other states and supported by Everytown. Our main point in the agenda is we are not advocating for the removal of guns but for gun violence preventative policies to ensure guns don’t fall in the wrong hands.”
The students involved in March For Our Lives presented this agenda to Senators and Representatives from across Iowa’s state government, including:
- Jennifer Konfrst (D-32), House Minority Leader
- Jack Whitver (R-23), Senate Majority Leader
- Bill Dotzler (D-31), Senate Minority Whip
