Jacksonville students demand change in gun culture

By Emily Sullivan / esullivan@jacksonville.com Ireland Hadley, 17, is one of five students behind Tuesday’s Jacksonville rally and die-in, which called attention to the March For Our Lives movement. Gun violence hits close to home for Hadley, who can name two AK-47 assault weapon owners. His gut stung after Pulse, a place that used to symbolize intimate, cheerful moments for him and his fellow LGBT community members. Ireland Hadley collapsed for 12 minutes Tuesday on the Duval County Courthouse lawn. Around him sprawled 22 other bodies, fidgeting only to wipe beads of sweat or lift orange picket signs a little higher. Over 700 miles away, people fell to the Capitol lawn, and in other cities across the nation, people lay still from noon to 12:12 p.m. They wanted to commemorate the two years since Omar Mateen shot 49 people dead with a Sig Sauer MCX rifle in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. They wanted to strike a nerve and demand change. They don’t all want to take guns away from their owners, but many of them want background-checked, law-abiding citizens in control of those guns. Hadley, 17, is one of five students behind Tuesday’s Jacksonville rally and die-in, which called attention to the March For Our Lives movement. Gun violence hits close to home for Hadley, who can name two AK-47 assault weapon owners. His gut stung after Pulse, a place that used to symbolize intimate, cheerful moments for him and his fellow LGBT community members. He’s friends with a young […]

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