The Parkland student survivors just announced the next phase of their plan to defeat the NRA

Anyone who thought that the Parkland student activists would just fade away after the tremendous turnout yesterday for their March For Our Lives is in for a surprise.

David Hogg, one of the most recognizable faces of the student movement that became the leading force for gun regulation reform in just a few short weeks, announced the next project spearheaded by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School classmates.

Taking to the social media platform the students used so well to rally support for their #NeverAgain movement, Hogg tweeted the action plan for the next phase of the movement this afternoon.

Keeping up the momentum from yesterday’s unprecedented series of marches that took place across the country as well as in cities around the world, the plan Hogg announced calls for town hall meetings to be organized all over the country only two weeks after the March For Our Lives.

While that’s an ambitious timeline to get so many representatives to agree to meeting their constituents, when you consider that there were only five weeks and three days between the massacre in the high school and the march attended by hundreds of thousands of people, any skepticism about the students’ ability to organize this next phase quickly dissolves away.

The students are partnering with the Town Hall Project, which according to their website:

“empowers constituents across the country to have face-to-face conversations with their elected representatives. We are campaign veterans and first time volunteers. We come from a diversity of backgrounds and live across the country. We share progressive values and believe strongly in civic engagement. We research every district and state for public events with members of Congress. Then we share our findings to promote participation in the democratic process.”

The project is predicated on the fact that as citizens our lawmakers are our elected representatives, and voters, not special interests, are the legislators’ ultimates bosses. The Town Hall Project is dedicated to ensuring that every citizen, no matter the party of their members of Congress, has the opportunity to speak with his or her representatives.

No matter who your representative is, they should be willing to adjust their schedules to participate in these vital meetings, if they feel enough heat from their constituents. If they don’t, then Hogg’s threat to invite their opponents to take their places at the podium should help them make up their minds.

Vinnie Longobardo

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.