Burke Student Helps Organize Protest At NRA

A Burke high school student is among Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut and Florida students holding a protest at the NRA Headquarters in Fairfax Saturday, April 14 from noon-2 p.m. The rally will happen on the two-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting that killed 17 people.

“We are calling out the gun lobby for their opposition to even sensible changes,” says Paige Szipszky, a Lake Braddock Secondary School sophomore co-organizing the protest.

Inspired by the student-organized national movement, the organizing students are focusing their effort on the NRA’s relationship with lawmakers and the effect on potential gun control measures.

Lake Braddock and West Springfield students have participated in two walkouts since the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting. Another local student, 11-year-old Naomi Wadler, took the spotlight for her speech at the March for Our Lives. Wadler's speech about the forgotten African-American women affected by gun violence became a crowd favorite at the March 24 rally. Wadler will not be speaking at the April 14 event but could attend, organizers tell Patch.

The speakers are confirmed for the event are:

• George Mason Elementary School fifth graders from Alexandria
• Aalayah Eastmond, a survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. who spoke at the March for Our Lives event in Washington D.C. on March 24
• Jenny Wadhwa, a junior at Newtown High School in Connecticut and member of the Jr.Newtown Action Alliance
• Brenna Levitan, a senior at Montgomery Blair High School and Michael Solomon, a sophomore at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring, Md., co-presidents of Montgomery County Students for Gun Control who spoke at a March 14 rally on the National Mall
• Olivia Mumma, a senior at Patriot High School in Nokesville, Va., who helped organize a school walkout and arranged buses for youth from Prince William County to attend March for Our Lives in Washington D.C. on March 24

The NRA Headquarters is located at 11250 Waples Mill Road in Fairfax.

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