Milwaukee teachers union hosts rally against gun violence

Even from 1,400 miles away, Tuesday's mass shooting in Texas is sending shockwaves through schools across the U.S. – including Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE - Even from 1,400 miles away, Tuesday's mass shooting in Texas is sending shockwaves through schools across the U.S. – including Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association (MTEA) – the state's largest teachers union – hosted a rally against gun violence Wednesday just a day after Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas joined the tally as the latest school victimized by violence.

The rally had been planned for a month after a 13-year-old girl – a Milwaukee Public Schools student – was killed by gun violence.

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Holding onto signs and onto hope, the MTEA wants to the world to listen.

"The five million educators in this country know what it's like to go back into a school the next day and face our students, who asked them today if this is going to happen to them," said Amy Mizialko, the union's president.

MTEA rally against gun violence

"Looking at my beautiful daughter and imagining those parents sending their children off to school, which should be the safest place for children, and not being able to pick up their children at the end of the day, it's beyond heartbreaking," parent Courtney Chavez said.

Wednesday's speakers included a high school student, educators and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee). Moore called on her colleagues in Congress to pass gun legislation like required background checks, "red flag" laws and bans on assault-style weapons.

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"There's no burglar, no deer in Wisconsin, or nothing else you need to have the type of assault weapons that we have," said Moore.

On a rainy Milwaukee afternoon, Debra Gillispie hoped rallies like it can water the seeds of change and save another family from feeling that pain.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore speaks at MTEA rally against gun violence

"They woke up this morning hoping it was a bad dream to find out that it wasn't. It really happened," Gillispie, who lost a son to gun violence, said.

Asked if MPD should reconsider ending its contract with the Milwaukee Police Department, Mizialko said "no." Instead, she wants to see schools fully staffed, especially with social workers, to pay closer attention to mental health.