SPRINGFIELD  – David Hogg, one of the Parkland Florida high school students who has risen to prominence in the movement against gun violence, said at a rally conducted on Aug. 25 he had not planned to speak.

About 100 marchers who had participated in the 50 Miles More protest culminating in a rally before the gates of Smith & Wesson listened to Hogg urge people to vote for change in the election on Nov. 6.

“You have to make America the country you want it to be,” he said. He added that people “had no right” to discuss issues such as gun violence unless they vote.

“The system has failed. It’s our job to fix it by voting,” he said, and then pointed to a table under a canopy where people could register to vote.

Manuel Oliver, the father of slain student Joaquin Oliver, addressed the issue of gun safety more directly. He wondered if there were mothers working at Smith & Wesson and whether or not any of them worked on the weapon that was used to kill his son.

When a pro-gun member of the audience said something, Oliver said, “Thank God for us that we’re here to save our kids and your kids.”

He believed the two sides should work together to “create a safer America.”

For Manuel Oliver this was his second trip to Springfield. Earlier this year he created a mural in front of South Congregational Church honoring the victims of the attack on the high school.

The anti-gun marchers walked past a contingent of pro-gun protesters that were kept on opposite sides of the street by Springfield police officers and state troopers.

Some of them carried the Gadsden flag – the Revolutionary War flag with the coiled rattlesnake and the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me,” adopted by members of the Tea Party movement – while others carried signs stating they love Smith & Wesson.

There was a political commentary as well to the counter-protest with signs for various Republican candidates for state office and a sign supporting President Trump.

Although the counter protesters wanted to be able to join the opposing side at their rally, Springfield police denied the request.

Kency Gilet of Springfield, who ran for City Council during the last election, described the group assembled as “patriots and people supporting the Second Amendment.” He added there were no Nazis or white supremacists among the ranks.

Gilet called Smith & Wesson “a greater employer” and wondered if any local elected officials would support restrictions on products made by the company. It was a question he intends to ask during the next election.

Springfield resident Bob Powell called the marchers “misguided.” He noted the shooter in the Parkland case was known to both school officials and local police as someone with numerous emotional issues. Both the police and the school officials failed to take action, Powell asserted.

“Why did this kid fall between the cracks?” Powell asked.     He also charged that gun violence critics blame people such as himself and other National Rifle Association members rather than people directly involved.

He said that marches, such as this one, were “a wasted effort with an outcome of zero.”