This past Wednesday I attended my first stand/sit-in (see post from 6/30/2016), ...to protest our country's epidemic of gun violence and to call for stricter gun laws. This demonstration was organized, as was Wednesday's, by the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence and, once again, was held in conjunction with other protests held this week around the state. Our modus operandi was pretty much the same as it was on Wednesday, as it was, I assume, on all the other days and in all the other places where the protests were held, One of the protesters suggested that some of us should be standing on the other side of the street for the benefit of the traffic going in both directions, a thought which had occurred to me, too. But after a few minutes an annoyed-looking young guy in a dress shirt and tie (and of a pro-gun persuasion) came out and told us to move away from his building as he didn't want his business associated with us. Some moved a few yards down the street, some stood their ground as, after all, we were on public property, but I crossed back over to the other side of the street. I know that sometimes implementing change requires some upheaval of the social order, but I wasn't yet ready to personally bring it on at that moment. Our protest was scheduled to run from 11:30 to 1 pm, and shortly before 1pm our organizer led us to the office of Steve Stivers for another 8-minute sit-in to draw attention to the fact that every eight hours an Ohioan is killed by gun violence. In fact we were welcomed into Stivers' office by his very nice aide, whose name, I think, was Alan, About a dozen people spoke, some very eloquently, doctors, counselors, teachers, people who'd personally experienced the pain and grief of gun violence, or those who simply were able to give voice to the need for better gun laws. I was moved by their personal stories and well-expressed words and I wondered if Congressman Stivers's young aide was likewise moved, In any case, I thought, we're doing what we can.
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