Trucker Lives Matter
A group that formed early this year has called for a national day of protest to bring awareness to the importance of truck drivers and advocate for gun rights to prevent the types of tragedies that have befallen other truckers.
“Trucker Lives Matter” is sponsored by the Small Business in Transportation Coalition, an industry trade group. They have chosen September 5, 2017, for their “Day Without A Trucker” protest. The group currently has 24,000 members.
Organizers are calling for truckers to take the day off from work and instead drive to Washington D.C. for a memorial procession to honor the 500 interstate transportation workers who have lost their lives over the past decade. One of them, trucker Michael Boeglin, became the inspiration to begin TLM after he was shot dead and burned in his truck in Detroit in June 2014.
SBTC President and TLM Spokesman James Lamb said he believes hundreds of truck drivers are planning to attend the event and he is working with local law enforcement to plan a safe and successful demonstration.
The group says the shooting of trucker Wilmer Erazo in Houston earlier this week prompted them to take action.
TLM says they hope the procession will raise awareness about truck driver self-defense and gun rights because, according to them, “currently, the patchwork of state laws and lack of nationwide reciprocity for firearms permits puts truckers in precarious if not dangerous life threatening-situations.”
The group is continuing outreach and has scheduled a dial-in press conference to discuss the event at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Friday, March 24. The conference call number is (712) 775-7031 and the access code is 495-071-244.
