QUESTION:
March For Our Lives permit made ‘several months’ before Parkland shooting?
ANSWER:
No, the permit applications were made after the February 14 Parkland shooting.
SOURCES:
Metropolitan Police Office of Communications, National Park Service Freedom of Information Act Request Documents
PROCESS:
Nearly two weeks after the historic March For Our Lives event happened, rumors continue to pop up.
The latest buzz circulating on social media alleges the permit for the March For Our Lives event in DC was actually proposed "several months" before the Parkland shooting happened this past February.
WUSA9 researchers first took a closer look at the alleged evidence, which is a screen grab from an email. An article was also written about the claim on the site, the Fellowship of the Minds.
In the email, a Metropolitan Police officer wrote they received a permit application for March For Our Lives several months in advance, meaning before the February 14 Parkland shooting.
We contacted MPD who clarified a march application permit was submitted to them on February 21, a week AFTER the mass shooting. As for that email saying the permit request was made several months before the event, MPD told us the officer's response was written in error.
We then double checked with the National Park Service and used the Park Service Freedom Information Act available on their website to confirm the dates. On the official document, the date written on the March For Our Lives application permit request is February 20 made to the National Park Service.
Also National Park Service Chief of Communications, Mike Litterst, told WUSA9 researchers back on March 12, that they, along with the Metropolitan Police Department, were working to issue the permits for the March 24 rally.
“The National Park Service identified multiple alternate locations for the March For Our Lives and on February 28 the organizers amended their permit application for the event to take place on Pennsylvania Avenue, between 3rd Street and 12th Street. The National Park Service will continue to work with the organizers to issue permits for the demonstration for affected properties under our jurisdiction, as well as with Metropolitan Police Department and other organizations with jurisdiction along the route.”
From claims of Craigslist ads paying protesters to attend the rally and student activist Emma Gonzalez ripping the constitution, we can verify this too is false and that the March For Our Lives permit application was NOT made months before the Parkland shooting.
