First and Second Amendments focus of March for Our Lives in Hermosa Beach – Easy Reader
by Kevin Cody
Lance Dominguez, of Torrance, spent two weeks working with Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach city hall, police, and fire officials to get a permit for Saturdays March for Our Lives. The march drew an estimated 200 gun legislation supporters, who met at noon at the Manhattan Beach Pier, and marched to the Hermosa Beach pier for a rally on Pier Plaza. The permit required he pay for security.
I find it ironic, Dominguez told the marchers, that it is more difficult to organize a peaceful march than for an 18-year-old to walk into a store, and walk out with an AR-15, and 100 rounds of ammunition. If exercising my First Amendment right to assembly can be regulated to protect public safety, shouldnt the same be true of those exercising their Second Amendment right to bear arms? he asked.
Seaside is the Christmas lights neighborhood. You may have even bought hot chocolate from Rebeccas son David, Dominguez said.
Boldrick introduced herself over the loudspeakers as a former Torrance School District teacher. Her son David, and daughter Lauren attended Seaside Elementary, Calle Mayor Middle School, and South High School before the family moved to Parkland, Florida in 2016.
The Torrance School District began active shooter drills after the mass shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School (in Newtown, Connecticut). But I never dreamed my childrens school would have an active shooter, Boldrick said.
On Feb. 14, 2018, Boldricks son and daughter were in class at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, when former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, opened fire on students and teachers with an AR-15 assault rifle, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others.
David and Laurens childhood ended that day. My daughter lost four of her best friends, Boldrick said.
The following month, her son David Hogg, co-organized the inaugural March for Life on Washington D.C. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential People in 2018.
The March for Our Lives (South Bay) gets underway at the Manhattan Beach Pier June 11. Photo by Garth Meyer
Saturdays March for Life was one of hundreds nationwide, held in response to the May 24 killing of 19 students, and two teachers, and the wounding of 17 others at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas by an AR-15, wielded by 18-year-old Uvalde High School student Salvador Ramos.
Following Boldricks recorded address, former Torrance school counselor Christine Macinnis told the marchers, Over 90 percent of mass shootings are by young white men. But it is easier to get a gun than a therapist We cant keep saying this is a mental health issue without providing mental health.
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, who was reelected last Tuesday to a fifth term representing the 66 Assembly District, said California has the strongest gun laws in California. Its 111 gun laws include background check requirements; and a red flag ban on high risk people having guns..
In January, Muratsuchi co-authored a bill that would prohibit manufacturing, andr assembling unserialized firearms, commonly known as ghost guns.
Im proud to say every time the National Rifle Association releases a scorecard, I get an F, Muratsuchi said.
The rally was briefly interrupted when a man, who declined to identify himself, approached the speaker stage and shouted, What about the pharmaceutical industry? They kill more people than guns. (Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death, after heart disease, and cancer in the United States and Europe, according to the website PubMed.com).
Marcher Justin House, of Hermosa Beach, guided the anti protester away from the stage. He and Hermosa Beach Police Josh Droz, kept the man engaged in conversation until the rally ended, approximately 30 minutes later. ER
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First and Second Amendments focus of March for Our Lives in Hermosa Beach - Easy Reader