Thousands of people in cities across the nation took to the streets on July 7, to march for their rights. They were mostly young people; high school and college kids demanding that their rights be recognized and that a platform be given to their opinions. Yet these March for Our Rights rallies did not receive coverage in the national press. Could this be because they were not marching for abortion, open borders, illegal immigrants or against President Trump?
This was a group of marches in favor of protecting gun rights and the Second Amendment. It was ignored by the majority of the nation’s media.
Xena Amirani
In Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities, young people gathered to show that they were not a small minority in the gun control debate.
Behind the Curtain
Nineteen-year-old USC student Xena Amirani is a director of the movement. She said of the marches:
“The reason why our movement was founded was due to a negative reaction we had directly with the media in the wake of the Parkland shooting and March for our Lives... There was no publicity assisting us.”
Being a young female from a Muslim background, Xena may not be the left’s idea of a conservative poster child; she has faced criticism and insults for her position on gun rights. She has lost friends due to her beliefs but firmly believes that gun rights are under attack and will not stay silent, she says.
Keeping up the Narrative
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the news event that received the most coverage was the direct counter-protest in Chicago that saw protesters shut down the Dan Ryan freeway. This group was billed as an “anti-violence march” that sought gun control. The majority of news outlets neglected to mention that this protest was a direct response to the March for Our Rights Rally.
Rather than choose to debate the pro-Second Amendment youth, the Chicago gun control group, joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson, decided to use a diversionary tactic.
It seems that for the gun control lobby, the easiest way to deny oxygen to a cause is to create a larger spectacle to distract a complicit media that is just waiting for an opportunity to turn the cameras onto something that fits its own narrative.
Voices of the March
Kenya Rodriguez, a 17-year-old student, described how being a black-Hispanic gun supporter has alienated her from friends. “I’ve had everybody turn against me,” she said, “I have no close friends, no supporters… it has created a big divide.”
Morgan Sachs, a recent graduate of Florida Atlantic University and an executive director of March for Our Rights, said:
“When students from that high school took control of the gun-control narrative, it was shocking to me… I knew students there did not entirely agree with it. Students at my school totally disagreed.”
Maj Toure, the founder of the pro-gun group Black Guns Matter, explained why his organization backs the March for Our Rights movement. He said that gun control in “racist,” and that, “We’re not too many days behind the Fourth of July. African-Americans have a rich history with firearms. All gun control is racist."
Leading the Way
These marches were not well-funded and they were not well-publicized. What they were was authentic and representative. The participants were of all colors, all backgrounds, and all ages; united in the core belief that the Second Amendment protects citizens and allows citizens to protect themselves.
No wonder they received no coverage from a biased, narrative-driven media.
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