Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

PHOTOS: Thousands Rally For Gun Control In Salt Lake City

Kelsie Moore
/
KUER
Student organizers chanting "enough is enough" as they lead the way from West High School to the Utah State Capitol.

Thousands of Utahns, outraged by recent school shootings, gathered at the state Capitol on Saturday as part of the nationwide March For Our Lives movement. A smaller group of gun rights advocates also made their views known in a counter-protest earlier in the day. 

Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER

Protesters gathered at West High School in Salt Lake City to begin the march to the Utah Capitol building. 

"Participating in these kinds of things, it just shows that we're ready to take that step forward and we're ready...to demand what's needed to make people safe," said 18-year-old Aislin Martnez, who drove down from Orem with two of her friends to march.

Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER
Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER
Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER
Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER
Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER

Many students wore price tags around their wrists with barcodes and “$0.17” written in bold. Organizers said they calculated all of the money Utah politicians receive from the National Rifle Association and divided it by the number of students in the state.

"Our lives are worth 17 cents and that's not OK," said one student. "Students should be priceless."

 

Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER
Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER
Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER

Rebecca Utz, a professor at the University of Utah, came with her two young daughters, Carolyn and Elizabeth. She said active shooter drills are her least favorite part of the job.

“[My] young kids also have to go through active shooter drills in kindergarten and fourth grade. That is not what I want," she said.

Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER
Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER
Credit Kelsie Moore / KUER
/
KUER

Pro-Gun March 

Earlier Saturday, a group of counter-demonstrators made their way to the Capitol in support of the 2nd Amendment. Many said they felt alienated by the anti-gun message of the March For Our Lives movement. 

Credit Julia Ritchey / KUER
/
KUER
Kendall McKee sticks her head out of the top of a military vehicle during a pro-gun march on Saturday. The "March Before Our Lives" counter-demonstration was sponsored by the Utah Gun Exchange website.
Credit Julia Ritchey / KUER
/
KUER
A man takes a selfie with a sign in support of arming teachers, a policy favored by the Trump administration.
Credit Julia Ritchey / KUER
/
KUER
The Utah Gun Exchange is offering free concealed firearm training for teachers in the state. They've dubbed their initiative "Educarry."

Lee Hale began listening to KUER while he was teaching English at a Middle School in West Jordan (his one hour commute made for plenty of listening time). Inspired by what he heard he applied for the Kroc Fellowship at NPR headquarters in DC and to his surprise, he got it. Since then he has reported on topics ranging from TSA PreCheck to micro apartments in overcrowded cities to the various ways zoo animals stay cool in the summer heat. But, his primary focus has always been education and he returns to Utah to cover the same schools he was teaching in not long ago. Lee is a graduate of Brigham Young University and is also fascinated with the way religion intersects with the culture and communities of the Beehive State. He hopes to tell stories that accurately reflect the beliefs that Utahns hold dear.
A dual citizen of both Australia and the United States, Kelsie has enjoyed breaking down all of her pre-conceptions of this country as she’s put a lens on the American people. Prior to RadioWest, she was filming short documentaries worldwide, getting to the heart of rural communities disadvantaged by poverty. As she invests in Utah and the community here, she is picking up a slight American accent that her Australian family is not proud of.
Julia joined KUER in 2016 after a year reporting at the NPR member station in Reno, Nev. During her stint, she covered battleground politics, school overcrowding, and any story that would take her to the crystal blue shores of Lake Tahoe. Her work earned her two regional Edward R. Murrow awards. Originally from the mountains of Western North Carolina, Julia graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2008 with a degree in journalism. She’s worked as both a print and radio reporter in several states and several countries — from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to Dakar, Senegal. Her curiosity about the American West led her to take a spontaneous, one-way road trip to the Great Basin, where she intends to continue preaching the gospel of community journalism, public radio and podcasting. In her spare time, you’ll find her hanging with her beagle Bodhi, taking pictures of her food and watching Patrick Swayze movies.
KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.