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Alliance for Gun Responsibility announces ballot initiative for 2018

SEATTLE — Hundreds of students gathered in Occidental Square on Friday for a rally called "We Won't Be Next."

The students rallied to send a message that more needs to be done to stop gun violence. The Alliance for Gun Responsibility joined them to make an announcement on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting.

"We'll be filing an initiative momentarily to the people that will address specific issues dealing with assault weapons," Renee Hopkins, CEO of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, said.

The proposed initiative will address the causes of tragedies by raising the minimum age to purchase a semiautomatic rifle to 21 years old.

The group is also looking at enhanced background checks on assault rifles.

"We will be presenting a firearm safety bill that is comprehensive and that we know will save lives in Washington state,” said Hopkins.

The Alliance for Gun Responsibility will work with student organizers from the rally to make sure they get the initiative passed in November. But in order to make it to the ballot, they'll need more than 3,000 signatures by the first week of July.

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“We're the generation that's been affected by this most currently, because, obviously, it (gun violence) keeps happening in schools,” Shona Carter, who goes to high school in Issaquah, Washington, said.

"Gun violence isn't just an issue of mass shootings; it's an intersectional issue,” Niko Battle, who helped organize the rally, said. “It affects some students (and) some people more than others and, oftentimes, those people are the ones that don't get any representation or coverage when gun violence strikes their community."

But passing the law might be difficult.

After the shooting in Parkland, Florida, groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Second Amendment Foundation saw huge jumps in registration and donations.

Students at the rally said they won't be deterred.

"Politicians (need to) make change or make room,” said Lydia Ringer, one of the student organizers at the rally.