WASHINGTON — Thousands of demonstrators are expected to take the streets in hundreds of protests across the country Saturday to push lawmakers to take action on gun violence in the wake of recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York.
Protesters are turning out to more than 450 rallies nationwide, with the largest gathering taking place in Washington D.C. starting at noon.
The rallies were organized by March For Our Lives, a youth-driven organization first created by students who survived of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school mass shooting in 2018.
In Parkland, Florida, where the movement began, hundreds of demonstrators had already gathered outside the Pine Trails Park Amphitheater Saturday morning to demand background checks on all gun sales, the implementation of “red-flag” laws and raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
As gun restrictions talks remain ongoing in Capitol Hill, the House passed a “red-flag” bill Thursday that would allow a judge to take firearms away from a person who poses an imminent danger to themselves or others.
On Wednesday, the House also passed a legislative package that would raise the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles to 21.
However, it remains unclear whether these legislations will advance in the Senate.
“We need to put aside our politics and save our kids and loved ones from this senseless and horrific violence before it impacts them,” David Hogg, a 2018 graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the cofounder of March for Our Lives, said in a statement ahead of the rallies.
Since March for Our Lives last organized nationwide protests in 2018, mass shooting have become increasingly more common.
At least 254 mass shootings have taken place in the U.S. so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. These include the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings.
In Buffalo, a white gunman killed 10 people and wounded three other in a local supermarket on May 14 in a shooting authorities deemed as a “racially motivated, hate crime.“
Ten days later in Uvalde, 19 children, mostly fourth graders, and two teachers were killed by a gunman who entered an elementary school on May 24.
The President of March For Our Lives in Parkland, Zoe Weissman, told MSNBC she was rehearsing for a play when she heard about the tragedy at Uvalde.
The 16-year-old survivor of the Parkland shooting recalled feeling devastated by the news, saying she will continue fighting against gun violence to prevent more children from being killed and from living with the life-long trauma that comes with surviving a mass shooting.
In 2020, guns became the leading cause of death among young people ages 1 to 19 in the U.S. than vehicle crashes, drugs overdoses or cancer.
Nicole Acevedo reported from New York, Aria Bendix and Janelle Griffith reported from Washington, D.C.
Dareh Gregorian contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
