DALTON, Ga. — Joining their fellow students and activists in protests across the nation, more than 300 people marched through downtown Dalton on Saturday, chanting slogans for gun reform and imploring leaders in Washington and in Atlanta to take action to stop gun violence.

The “March for Our Lives” was called for by students from Parkland, Fla., after a shooting there left 14 students and three others dead on Feb. 14.

Starting on Dalton Green, local marchers circled through downtown on sidewalks and came back to the park to hear speeches from students.

“We do know what we are talking about. We have a right to have our voices heard,” said 15-year-old Andrea Norell, a Southeast Whitfield High School student who spoke at the rally. “We are the future of America. They can’t just silence us. We are here to stay and we will be heard. When leaders start making childish decisions and your children make leadership decisions, you know change is coming.”

For many of the speakers, the march became even more personal when Dalton High teacher Randal Davidson barricaded himself in a classroom two weeks after the Parkland shooting. Police say Davidson fired a shot through a window, causing all of the students and staff to evacuate from the area while law enforcement descended on the school. Davidson was taken into custody and no one was injured in the incident, but Dalton freshman Sarah Jaconetti said Feb. 28 was a day that changed her life.

“In that moment, it felt like my safety was taken away from a place that I considered happy,” said Jaconetti, who marched with her two sisters. “I ran out of the school as fast as I could. Today I march because in a moment of seconds, my happy, safe place turned into something so terrifying. No kid or adult should ever have to go through anything like that. We need change now.”

Dalton High student body president Valerie Gonzalez said she has had sleepless nights since the school was placed on lockdown during the “Code Red” when Davidson fired his pistol.

“We want change,” Gonzalez said. “We are students and we don’t want to live in fear anymore. It was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. It is something no one should have to go through.”

Students are tapping into gun-control sentiment which has emerged since the Parkland shooting. However, proponents of the Second Amendment to the Constitution are opposed to many of the so-called reforms and some Republican leaders and National Rifle Association supporters have called the students “pawns” of a liberal agenda to erode a constitutional right.

Student Shelby Harvey wasn’t having that.

“When people defend guns over human lives, I think that something has gone wrong,” Harvey said. “The amendment that everyone is protecting was written over 200 years ago when they didn’t have semi-automatic rifles. They had guns that could only shoot one bullet. Times have changed. Things have changed. It is time that laws do too.”

Southeast senior Alejandra Garcia was pleased with the turnout and said she was no one’s “pawn.”

“People who would say we are pawns? I don’t know how much money goes to our representatives in Congress, and we are the pawns?” she asked. “I don’t think they understand the situation. We are passionate about this cause. We are fighting for what we believe in. And we are not going away.”