Local “March For Our Lives” Protest

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Area residents pushing for tighter restrictions on guns held a march and rally in Downtown Tupelo Saturday morning.

They marched from Fair Park, carrying various banners. The Tupelo event was one of many across the country affiliated with March for Our Lives, which came about in the wake of last month’s shooting in Parkland, Florida.

“Our message is that we say with the students never again, enough is enough no more of our school children killed in school with assault rifles,” said event organizer Mary Jane Meadows.

Meadows says they are standing with students in Florida who are calling for specific changes.

“They are calling for gun background checks for assault rifles to be rethought. High capacity magazines, to have some regulation there, age limits, you know lets get started somewhere,” said Meadows.

Mississippi is arguably a very Second Amendment state. Governor Phil Bryant is aware of this weekend’s rally and had this reaction to the call for more gun control.

“The only way that you will stop an armed suspect that killing children in a school is if you are armed. An individual with a weapon will not stop killing until he is stopped with another weapon. You can’t advise him to put his weapon down and you can’t talk him in to it. So we must protect ourselves. We must protect our children,” said Bryant.

Bryant says creating more laws won’t help.

“Law breakers do just that. They break the law. They don’t pay attention to the laws. So you add more gun laws and it take more away from honest citizens, and criminals will still be armed,” said Bryant.

Still, Meadows and her group are convinced that something must be done.

“Let’s give it a try. Let’s try something,” said Meadows.

There are no new gun laws pending in the Mississippi legislature.