Chanting “never again”, hundreds of thousands of young Americans and their supporters answered a call to action from survivors of last month’s Florida high school massacre and rallied across the U.S. on Saturday to demand tighter gun laws.
In some of the biggest U.S. youth demonstrations for decades, protesters — more than a million of them — called on lawmakers and President Donald Trump to confront the issue. Voter registration activists fanned out in the crowds, signing up thousands of the nation’s newest voters.
At the largest ‘March For Our Lives’ protest, with an estimated crowd of about 8,00,000 people, demonstrators jammed Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue where they listened to speeches from survivors of the February 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Florida survivors speak
There were sobs as one teenage survivor, Emma Gonzalez, read the names of the 17 victims and then stood in silence. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stared out over the crowd for the rest of a speech that lasted six minutes and 20 seconds, the time it took for the gunman to slaughter them.
The massive ‘March For Our Lives’ rallies aimed to break legislative gridlock that has long stymied efforts to increase restrictions on firearms sales.
“Politicians: either represent the people or get out. Stand with us or beware, the voters are coming,” Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, told the crowd. Another survivor, David Hogg, said it was a new day. “We’re going to make sure the best people get in our elections to run not as politicians, but as Americans. Because this — this — is not cutting it,” he said, pointing at the Capitol behind the stage.
Youthful marchers filled streets in cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, San Diego and St. Louis.
800 demonstrations
More than 800 demonstrations were scheduled in the United States and overseas, according to coordinators, with events as far afield as London, Mauritius, Stockholm and Sydney.
Organisers of the anti-gun rallies want Congress, many of whose members are up for re-election in November, to ban the sale of assault weapons like the one used in the Florida rampage and to tighten background checks for gun buyers.
Rallies for tighter firearm restrictions also sprang up in rural, Republican-leaning communities ranging from Lewiston, Idaho to Logan, Utah where there is strong support for the Second Amendment constitutional right to own guns.
Among those marching next to New York’s Central Park to call for tighter gun controls was pop star Paul McCartney, who said he had a personal stake in the debate. “One of my best friends was shot not far from here,” he told CNN, referring to Beatles bandmate John Lennon, who was gunned down near the park in 1980.
White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said the administration applauded “the many courageous young Americans”.
Ms. Walters noted that on Friday the Justice Department proposed rule changes that would effectively ban ”bump stock” devices that let semi-automatic weapons fire like a machine gun. Also on Friday, Mr. Trump signed a $1.3-trillion spending Bill including modest improvements to background checks for gun sales and grants to help schools prevent gun violence.