Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington and in other U.S. cities Saturday to rally for tougher gun laws following a recent mass deadly shooting that sparked outrage and political activism among young people across the country.

“I feel like I’m here for my brother … and my grandmother also told me to come march for her,” Milo Davis, a college student from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told VOA at the March for our Lives in Washington.

Davis drove to Parkland, Florida, on the day of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last month because his younger brother attended school nearby. On Saturday, he attended the march with three college friends who work in after-school programs near Parkland.

In addition to the march in Washington, more than 800 other marches were planned across the country and worldwide.

The February 14 mass shooting in Parkland has put a spark to the outrage built up over the past few years as shootings take place at school after school in the United States.

Trevon Bosley, a Chicago teenager who lost his brother to gun violence, told the Washington throng, “Everyday shootings are everyday problems.”

Referencing Chicago’s high rate of gun violence, Bosley said, “I’m here to speak for those youth who fear they may be shot while going to the gas station, the movies, the bus stop, to church, or even to and from school. … I’m here to speak on behalf of everyone who believes a child getting shot and killed in Chicago or any other city is still a not-acceptable norm.”

Zion Kelly, a Washington student, told protesters about his twin brother, Zaire, who was shot and killed during an attempted robbery on the street in September 2017. The Kelly family is proposing legislation, to be named after Zaire, to create safe passage zones to and from schools and other activities in Washington.

He became emotional talking about losing his twin, and people in the crowd shouted support and cheered him.

“My name is Zion Kelly, and just like you, I’ve had enough,” he said in ending his speech.

With Parkland students leading the effort, students across the country gathered to speak out, calling for change — and for voter participation in November’s midterm elections.

‘Stand for us or beware’

“Politicians, either represent the people or get out,” said Cameron Kasky, a student survivor of the shooting in Parkland that left 17 people dead. “The people demand a law banning the sale of assault weapons. The people demand [prohibition of] the sale of high-capacity magazines. The people demand universal background checks. Stand for us or beware — the votes are coming.”[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]Edna Chavez, 17, traveled nearly 4,300 kilometers (2,700 miles) from Los Angeles to Washington to “impact policies and make sure our voices are heard.”

“I have lived in South L.A. my entire life and have lost many loved ones to gun violence,” Chavez said.”This is normal — normal to the point that I’ve learned to duck from bullets before I learned how to read.”

Gun rights advocates also were among the demonstrators in Washington. A man who wanted to be identified only as “Joe” from upstate New York spoke to VOA in front of the Trump International Hotel, just blocks from the White House.

“This whole march … is just an emotional reaction to something that is very tragic,” he said. He said tighter gun control legislation was not “going to reduce gun violence, it’s just going to take away the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

Leland Miller, a gun owner from Paris, Kentucky, attended the march in Washington. He told VOA that he and his family members were gun owners.

Regarding the Second Amendment — which focuses on the right of private citizens to bear arms — Miller said, “I believe in the lawful support and defense of yourself. However, when we’re talking about AR-15s and automatic weapons, we’re not exactly talking about self-defense anymore. We’re talking about an offense.”

Weapons of war

An Ethiopian man, who attended the march with his two young children, told VOA’s Somali service, “We don’t need machine guns in people’s hands. We have military and police. … America is not at war.” He said people could protect themselves with a gun, but that the semiautomatic weapons used in recent mass shootings were not needed.

President Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida during the Washington rally, but White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said in a statement, “We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today. Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the president’s, which is why he urged Congress to pass the Fix NICS [the National Instant Criminal Background Check System] and STOP School Violence Acts, and signed them into law.”

Many Americans, however, have been reluctant to give up their guns. Calls for change following mass shootings have not translated to significant changes in gun laws.

Shifting positions

A new poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates, however, that sentiment may be changing. The poll found that 69 percent of Americans surveyed thought gun laws should be tightened, up from 61 percent in in October 2016 and 55 percent in October 2013.

Overall, the survey indicated 90 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of gun owners favored stricter gun control laws.

But nearly half of Americans, the poll revealed, do not expect their politicians to change gun laws.

Source: VOA

  demonstrations, gun, gun control, laws, reform, school shootings, u.s., us, washington