DOD Club Members in ACTION!

On Saturday, July 21, three local DOD and Moms Demand Action members drove to Orange County for the Road to Change town hall, organized by the March for Our Lives/Parkland survivors. Sharon Benoit, Jimmi Thomas and I piled into Jimmi’s SUV for the 2+ hour drive.

It was well worth the drive and, if there is one near you, please go. The Website with information and other tour dates is: marchforourlives.com/tour.

The teens have been on the road for 40+ days already. Besides speaking out about gun violence, they are registering voters. More than 1,000 people attended to hear the panel discussion among Parkland survivors and local OC activists. From Parkland: David Hogg and Cameron Kasky. There were also two young women who live in areas with shootings—Houston and Chicago. They had a discussion about their own experiences, gun violence in America, and what they are doing as activists. They also took questions from the audience. A couple of notable things: the Road to Change activists have developed a sweatshirt that has a scannable barcode (the young man at the podium in one of the photos is wearing it). They said you can use that barcode to register to vote online in 30 states. They were selling them at the event, and they may be in an online store soon. The second notable item is that one of the OC teens is leading an activist group that has identified six progressive candidates, who support gun safety efforts, for City Council. There were also numerous other progressives and Moms Demand Action activists at the event.