ATLANTA — School's out but one bus is still making stops on its cross-country route to raise awareness about gun violence before students head back to class.
"Guac's Magical Tour" made a stop in Atlanta Wednesday, its third stop on its nationwide tour of major U.S. cities and the first one outside of Florida. The tour, dubbed Guacathon 2023, is named after Joaquin "Guac" Oliver who was killed in the Parkland, Florida Valentine's Day massacre in 2018. His parents Manuel and Patricia Oliver, who have risen to national notoriety for their gun violence activism, are hitting the road this summer as part of their ongoing prevention efforts to keep kids from dying from firearms.
The couple plans to visit 25 cities in 50 days, focusing on areas that have been devastated by gun violence. During their Atlanta visit, Cameron Kasky, a March For Our Lives founder and Parkland survivor who also attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with Guac joined them.
"Atlanta is very disproportionately affected by gun violence," Kasky said. "We're here to go to all sorts of different cities and say, you know, cities like Parkland, cities like other major mass shooting cities specifically with largely white populations, get all the media coverage in the world. And then cities like Atlanta, even though they face gun violence on the daily, do not."
Kasky said the tour recently stopped in Orlando where the Pulse mass shooting happened, describing it as a sobering experience as the nation wrapped up Pride Month. He expressed that visiting these sites is tough, but draws inspiration from Guac's father, Manuel "Manny" who shows him that raising awareness is important and effective.
"He doesn't stop," Kasky said. "And with what he's lost and with what he's done with the work he's done - so can we. If Manny can keep going, so can we all."
It's a message Manuel is sharing with the community, saying change can happen if everyone bands together because his loss is something too many people are experiencing.
"You don't have to look that deep to find a city that has been hit by gun violence," he said about the tour's choice to stop in Atlanta. "This is a state where more people die from gun violence than from car accidents - and in 28 states have that number so it's pretty bad here in Atlanta as a city."
Manuel said he wants people to recognize how guns are impacting the nation's future and he's working to showcase his purpose with their mode of transportation.
"The symbol behind the school bus is just childhood happiness. You know kids that were thinking that they will have a great future - but gun violence is beyond that," he said. "We see gun violence in the big picture."
Manuel emphasized that his message is a unifying one and one that hits home for Atlanta.
"We're not running for office. We're not doing a campaign. This is for us to show the nation that there's a lot of us," he said.
Independent research and data collection organization Gun Violence Archive defines mass shootings where there is a minimum of four victims who have been shot - not including the shooter.
According to the organization, there have been 13 mass shootings in Georgia since the start of 2023. At this time last year, there were nine.
Search the Atlas of American Gun Violence using the interactive map below. The story continues below.
Guac and 16 other people were killed and another 17 were injured in Parkland in 2018. Georgia had only four documented mass shootings by this time that year. Georgia finished the year with eight mass shootings in 2018, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
"There's a lot of people that knows exactly what's going on," Manuel said. "I think that we need to create awareness."
He explained that he is dedicated to the cause as he's the reason why his son was at the school to begin with. Manuel explained he made the decision years ago to move his family to the U.S. "because Joaquin deserved a better future" and that he was sold on the idea that the states were safer.
"It's not true. It's not safe at all. So now I have to fix what I can't fix. Now I have to do something," he said. "I lost my son -- my son did not lose me."
