Valparaiso Man Organizes Counter-Protest to March for Our Lives

As students across the nation prepare to hold rallies Saturday calling for gun control legislation and safer schools, one man in Valparaiso is holding a rally the same day, calling for the protection of the second amendment.

Pro-gun advocate Jack Pupillo said he feels he doesn’t have a voice when it comes to the gun debate. So he’s organized a counter-rally.

“I think there needs to be a voice, and I think it starts small,” he said, “I really think it starts from the ground up.”

Pupillo said he’s a member of the National Rifle Association, and he commends them for the work they do representing him, but there isn’t much engagement on a grassroots level. Pupillo said he was surprised by how much traction his rally got.

“I think there are a lot of people that are willing to stand up for their rights,” he said, “and their rights to own a gun. But they’ve got nowhere to go.”

He said if gun owners don’t stand up for their rights to bear arms, restrictions on guns will only lead to a slippery slope, with individual rights at stake.  

“I mean the second amendment is important, but individual liberty as a whole is really our argument here,” said Pupillo, “I mean individual liberty doesn’t include just the second amendment but it is an important aspect of it.”

Pupillo said he’s been approached about possibly holding rallies in South Bend and Fort Wayne.

The group will meet at Valparaiso’s City Hall at 11:00. The previously planned March for Our Lives rally is concluding their march at city hall after meeting earlier at Valparaiso University.