'This is not OK with me:' 350 gather to call for gun reform following Florida shooting

Organizers were surprised Monday night when about 350 people showed up for a meeting at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. The event was moved to a larger room that still couldn’t accommodate the crowd of people who lined the walls.

“I am going to get in the game at any level I can,” said mother Susan Smith, who attended with her daughter. “Last week, the shooting in Florida, it affects us all as moms and parents.”

Smith was among hundreds who attended the new member meeting for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group pushing gun reform.

“We have to do something and Moms Demand Action makes stuff happen,” said member Laura Werner.

Members of Moms Demand Action say they support the Second Amendment, but think there should be stronger gun laws and policies to keep people safe.

“All of a sudden, in the last five days, there has been an outpouring,” Werner said.

Members of the organization said they do not normally see attendance on the scale they saw Monday night.

“Saying ‘this is not OK with me, this is not the kind of country I want to live in, this is not how I want to raise my kids’ is loud and clear to people right now,” Werner said.

Smith said she attended for her daughter and her friends.

“All the sorts of things they navigate as teenagers and then they have to be scared for their lives on top of it,” Smith said. “No disrespect to the gentlemen in the world, but sometimes the moms get it done.”

More gatherings calling for stronger gun laws are expected Tuesday, including a march that is expected to begin at 5 p.m. at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, leading to downtown Raleigh.