GUILDERLAND — Conor Webb is a student with a mission, a big one: to make not just his school but his nation a safer place.

A Guilderland High School junior, Webb is a founder of the first local chapter of March For Our Lives.

“It wasn’t just me,” he says of strides made by the local chapter. “This is a very big team effort that we have going on here.”

Explaining the genesis of the Guilderland March For Our Lives, Webb says in this week’s Enterprise podcast, “The reason why the chapter started was because of that lie that we have grown so accustomed to, this tragedy that happens.”

That lie, he wrote earlier this year, in a letter to the Enterprise editor, “There are more guardians of gridlock than commanders of compromise,” is this: “Young people are desensitized to gun violence.”

He went on, “More specifically, we ignore and subconsciously suppress why we intuitively search our classrooms for blunt objects and nearby ‘hiding spots’ just in case a bad guy walks in to kill us.”

Students, Webb says, are far from cynical and resigned; rather, they are intent on making changes.

He was awakened a few years ago after two consecutive shootings, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Newport News, Virginia.

“It was tragic. It was horrific,” says Webb. “And what was even worse was that nationally, it was barely … covered.”

Webb says he then realized that mass shootings happen frequently but are “not really recognized unless it’s absolutely the highest order of tragedy. I was really disturbed by that … I personally wanted to do something in the Capital Region to help make this a little bit better and to help ease the pain a little.”

There was no local chapter of March For Our Lives, says Webb, explaining that the organization was formed after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14, 2018.

“Over 20 people died that day … so some of the survivors of that shooting decided to help organize a national march to stop gun violence,” said Webb. “And it was the largest single day protest of gun violence in history.”

The first major initiative taken on by the Guilderland chapter, Webb said, was spurred by Everytown for Gun Safety, which released a framework of things volunteers could push for.

“One of those things was a secure storage notification resolution ….,” he said.  “It promotes a responsible gun culture.”

So on Feb. 15, 2022, Webb and chapter colleagues Nora Whiteside and Emily O’Connor addressed the Guilderland School Board, calling for the board to pass a resolution requiring education of parents on the secure storage of firearms.

“We are scared … We are demanding more because we deserve more,” Webb told the board members.

The school board passed such a resolution on June 14, 2022.

Webb said this week of the resolution, “It really just calls attention to how much of a responsibility we all have in making sure that gun violence is at a minimum.”

While the resolution makes people aware of the responsibility of secure gun storage, Webb said, “In a more broad sense, I think that people are now more cognizant of how impactful this issue is when it comes to school districts, when it comes to our communities and whatnot.”

Last spring, after the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, members of the Guilderland chapter got together and asked, “What can we do here? What is our role in this?” Webb said.

“We had a moment of silence at that year’s anti-hate rally,” said Webb. For the past two years, Guilderland High School students have organized an outdoor rally where students share their stories of hurt to raise consciousness and educate others about the harm of prejudice.

“The anti-hate rally to me is a culmination of student activism made real,” said Webb, adding that another rally is planned for this spring.

“The hate was bad and it was very intense,” said Webb. “And what the rally is designed to do is to call attention that this is not tolerable … We need to come together and make sure that we can stand as a community … We can sometimes disagree but still respect each other.”

Last spring, after the Uvalde shooting, Guilderland’s March for Our Lives chapter worked with New York State United Teachers to hold a march in Albany. “There were hundreds of sister marches across the country,” said Webb.

Hundreds of people attended the Albany event including Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, Congressman Paul Tonko, and State Assembly members Patricia Fahy and John McDonald.

“I’m very grateful to the state teachers’ union for helping,” said Webb, citing the value of the union’s connections and resources.

Webb made a speech at the rally, which inspired Albany County Legislator Dustin Reidy, a Democrat who represents part of Guilderland.

“When you hear these students being very frank and talking about how the thought of gun [violence] passes their thoughts like at least once a day when they’re in school, and when you look at gun violence being the number-one killer of teenagers and children in the country,” Reidy told The Enterprise earlier, “I just felt there was a need to show students like Conor and show people here in the county that, you know, we would turn over every stone we can to effect change.”

Last June, Reidy proposed a county bill that would require gun dealers to display warning signs noting the increased risk of violence associated with firearms and also providing contact information for the Albany County Mobile Crisis Team and the National Suicide Hotline.

The Albany County Commitment to Ensuring a Safe Society, or ACCESS, law requires a written copy of the warning to be given when a gun is purchased and when anyone obtains a firearms license.

Reidy noted that the Republicans in the county legislature, a minority, had voted against the ACCESS law. After the vote, Reidy recounted, the Republicans who had voted against his bill said, “Hey, you know, it is the illegal guns that are the problem here. Why aren’t we looking at that?”

And that helped lead Reidy to draft the DISCOVER legislation. DISCOVER stands for Detailed Instruction Supporting COmmunity Violence Education and Reduction.

Webb said of the legislation, “It really makes our county, I think, a leader in the state. And, if we’re a leader in the state, we’re a leader in the country.”

The DISCOVER legislation includes gun buybacks — the first, wildly successful buyback was held in Guilderland — as well as an anonymous tip line for illegal guns and eventually a sheriff’s course to train gun owners.

“What I thought was most remarkable about that program was not just the aspects of the program itself, which are great, but that it was passed with unanimous bipartisan support,” said Webb. “Every Democrat, every Republican in the legislature cosigned onto that bill, which I think shows what good legislation is … and I think that has been missing in our national conversation for a while now.”

The Guilderland chapter of March for Our Lives, though, is not resting on its laurels.

“In February,” said Webb, “we joined Progressive Schenectady and Moms Demand Action … and we went together to Albany. We took the day of school off and we had several meetings with Capital District lawmakers.”

The group is pushing for a slate of bills to help compensate gun-violence victims, to fund community-violence intervention programs, and to help restore connections between communities and their police departments, said Webb.

March for Our Lives is also supporting a bill in Congress that would establish a national office of gun-violence prevention, Webb said.

With the sort of work he is doing, emotions can soar and plummet. 

“One day,” said Webb, “you’re celebrating just remarkable legislative accomplishments. And then the next day there’s a tragic shooting in Nashville that leaves three kids dead and three adults dead.”

He also mentioned the recent swatting calls — fake calls to police alleging school shootings — that have swept across the state and nation.

“The lockdowns that occurred across the Capital Region just a few days ago … left students in tears,” said Webb.

Guilderland did not experience such a lockdown but Webb referenced an event last November where a medical emergency at Guilderland High School led the administration to follow its standard procedure of calling for a “shelter in place” so hallways were clear for first responders.

However, according to the district’s account at the time, “The wrong code was entered into the security system, inadvertently triggering a lockdown alert.”

“There was an accidental lockdown called in our school building; they just meant to call a shelter in place …,” recalled Webb. “What we saw on our end was that there’s a lockdown going on. And so everyone sort of cowered in a corner … They whipped out their phones, you know, texting their parents, how much they love them … It was just terrifying.”

What keeps Webb working is hope “that there are young people across this country now who are willing to push for sensible gun legislation.”

He also said, “I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of progress because young people are so fed up with what’s going on right now. We are not willing to just accept that this is just something that we have to deal with every day.”

He concluded with a call to action for “everyone to be involved.”

“We have entrenched special interests across the country right now, the NRA, namely,” said Webb, “who are trying to do everything they can” to thwart change.

“So we have a responsibility as people who may not necessarily have the power and influence that they do to come together …. We can all push for responsible, sensible gun laws because the majority of people in our county, our state, our country support these bills.

“It’s just because of these special interests that we can’t get them through and because of people who aren’t courageous in Congress.”

Webb concluded, “It really takes all of us. And so, whether you think that you, you know, may not be a fit for this type of work, everyone is.”