Pace students planned and held a gun control rally on Miller Lawn on Wednesday in order to raise awareness for gun violence and to honor the victims of the Parkland Shooting.

Afraid and wanting to make a difference towards the shooting, Lindita Kulla, a sophomore at Pace, helped organize the rally.

At the start of the rally, a moment of silence was dedicated to the 17 victims of the Parkland shooting after the names were read.

Students gathered together and started chanting ‘I refuse to be silent’ and ‘I refuse to be scared’ shortly afterwards.

“Events like the tragedy in Parkland can’t be allowed to continue. We as a society must work together to be sure that schools are safe places.”

Some students raised the topic of allowing teachers to carry licensed guns to protect students from potential shooters and claimed that it would further risk the lives of students and would create a very unsafe environment.

“If our police don’t have the self-control to have a gun on them and shoot somebody, then how can we trust our teachers who are more likely to blow up on students then a police officer?,” said Cheyenne Moscaro, junior at Pace.

On the day of the rally, several nearby schools in Pleasantville were on a 2-hour delay due to a threat made by a Pleasantville Middle School student creating panic among nearby locals and students.

“I got messages from my friends about the shutdown and it makes me nervous to think that even a middle school kid has access to dangerous weapons like that,” said Stephanie Simoes, junior at Pace.

Some students that came to the event have been in a potentially dangerous situation  due to the easy access of guns.

“ When I was in middle school, we were in lockdown because there was a shooting on the same street and the man was running around the building because the police couldn’t fire in the building,” said Alec Zawadski, freshman at Pace University.

Other students came to the event because they have lost family members.

“A couple days before the Sandy Hook shooting happened, my brother had shot himself so Parkland brought back traumatizing memories for me,” said Moscaro.

Natalie Holguin, outreach coordinator of CCAR, spoke at the rally and stressed the importance of voting and how it can make a difference and help create the policies that younger generations would possibly want.

“Have you ever noticed that politicians are never concerned about the issues that concern our generation?” said Holguin. “That’s because they never see us at the polls.”

In order to receive help on how to register to vote and start taking action towards their political opinion, students may contact CCAR on campus or email Tyler Kalahar, program coordinator of CCAR at [email protected].