A Berrien County teacher is inviting the community to come out to a March for Our Lives rally planned in St. Joseph for next Saturday to call for sensible gun laws. Perry Heppler tells WSJM News following the school shootings in Texas last week, a lot of teachers are thinking about how these tragedies could happen anywhere.
“I’m an elementary teacher, and so when that tragedy in Uvalde happened, I could really relate to that and a lot of this is just my gut level response, that I really felt a need to do something,” Heppler said.
Heppler teaches second grade at Hollywood Elementary. He tells us he doesn’t hear much anxiety from students, but he knows older students are concerned. He’s planning the March for Our Lives to coincide with a march planned in Washington, D.C. the same day.
“Even if somebody is not sure where they stand about gun control, it’s a rally, not a protest. We’re getting together really to think about this issue and to highlight this issue, that it’s a problem and we really do need to do something about it.”
Heppler says the rally will be Saturday, June 11 outside the office of Congressman Fred Upton at 720 Main Street in St. Joseph. He says he selected that location not to criticize Upton, but because gun laws are a federal issue. He invites everyone who wants to be engaged in the issue to come to the rally, rain or shine. It’s set for 1 to 3 p.m. You can find out more right here.
