Just a stone’s throw from the National Rifle Association’s annual convention, protesters fighting against gun violence rallied outside of Dallas’s City Hall Saturday.
“I’ll never forget the sounds of gunfire ringing out,” Mireya Rodriguez told the crowd of dozens.
Rodriguez was working at the Allen Outlets just over a year ago when a gunman opened fire on shoppers, killing eight.
“I used to strongly feel like, oh, this wouldn’t happen to me. I live in a good neighborhood. I live in a good community. It wouldn’t happen here, and then it did,” she said.
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Now, Rodriguez works with Students Demand Action.
The group organized Saturday’s event alongside Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety to admonish the NRA for holding its convention around the anniversaries of mass shootings in Allen, Santa Fe, and Uvalde, tragedies that they say are part of an epidemic.
“We’re holding the gun industry as a whole accountable,” said Rodriguez.
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As more than 70,000 gun-rights supporters filed into the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center to view 14 acres worth of guns, attend classes, and hear from former President Donald Trump and Governor Greg Abbott, some marching in support of a solution to the state’s rising gun deaths said there’s a middle ground.
“I’m a gun owner. I’m a hunter. I believe in the Second Amendment,” said Scott Spreier.
Spreier, a former NRA member, attended Saturday’s protest as part of Giffords Gun Owners for Safety. The group supports red flag laws, age limits on certain weapons, and safe storage practices.
“I think we ought to treat our guns like we treat our pickup trucks that we love so much in Texas. We license them. We have to have driver’s licenses. We have to have insurance, and there are restrictions,” he said.
It’s part of what protesters said is a necessary conversation as gun-related deaths in Texas continue to climb.
