DURHAM, N.C. — Thousands of people will descend on Washington, D.C., this Saturday for the second March for Our Lives rally, moved by recent mass shootings to demand stricter gun safety laws.

In North Carolina, a graduating high school senior is organizing a similar event at the state capital to coincide with the Washington gathering.

What You Need To Know

  • Laura McDow got involved in the March for Our Lives in 2018 and is an organizer of Saturday's gathering in the state capital

  • The N.C. March for Our Lives starts at 10 a.m. outside the General Assembly in Raleigh

  • McDow is a graduating senior at the Carolina Friends School in Durham

Laura McDow, a senior at the Carolina Friends School in Durham, was involved in the first March for Our Lives, which took place in 2018 after the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

“Just the fact of the four years I thought things would change," McDow said. "I thought after the march in 2018 there would be this huge push and people will get stuff done, but the fact that it’s just that every day it’s just another one.” 

She has been making signs for Saturday’s march in Raleigh, one of many being held nationwide.

“Encapsulates how I feel. I don’t think they are what the people in power are believing or acting on. I mean they might believe that, but their actions are not saying that,” McDow said.

She’s estimating close to a thousand people will show up and says she already feels inspired.

“The number of people that show up and are RSVPing are interested in this just really shows that people care and want to see something be done,” McDow said.

North Carolina has seen its own school shootings. In 2019, two died at a shooting at UNC Charlotte, and in 2006 a former student wounded two students at Orange High School in Hillsborough and referenced the school shooting in Columbine, Colorado, in 1999. McDow says living in this era is scary.

“I would say as a student it’s really upsetting and scary, and I think oftentimes it just leaves you wondering, like when is it my turn, like why hasn’t it happened in my town, why hasn’t it happened at my school? And so I think that there is so much fear,” McDow said.

But she says organizing this march feels different, and she hopes it can lead to change and save lives.

The North Carolina March for Our Lives will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside the General Assembly at the Halifax Mall in Raleigh.