Organizers Hope to Draw Half a Million to Gun Control Rally

Thousands are gathering in Washington and across the country Saturday for protests that organizers say will be a defining moment in the long-simmering national debate over gun control legislation.The high school students from Parkland, Florida, leading the March for Our Lives rally are hoping to draw 500,000 protesters in the nation’s capital, which would match last year’s Women’s March and make this one of the largest Washington protests since the Vietnam era. A large turnout would bolster claims that the nation is ready to enact sweeping changes to its gun control laws. Up Against NRA’s Might, Students Fight to Change Gun Laws The students organized the main rally on Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue after a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killed 17 students with an assault rifle on Valentine’s Day. They have spurred a surge of demonstrations across the country, with more than 700 sister marches planned for every state in the country.In all more 800 protests are planned throughout the world, most in the United States and Europe. ’60s Activists Praise Today’s ‘Creative’ Student Protesters “We’ve sat through too many lock-down drills,” said Katie Taylor, a 17-year-old who was participating in the New York City march with three schoolmates from Somers High School in suburban Westchester County. “We’ve watched too many school shootings. We’re done that. We’re ready to change.”Stoneman Douglas student journalist Zoe Gordon said she is marching in the nation’s capital to speak up for the victims of gun violence. How the Parkland Teens Spearheaded a Worldwide Movement “I want to be able to be the people’s voice that unfortunately are unable to be here,” Gordon told MSNBC. “The ones that don’t get to voice their opinions about this issue because they suffered from it. So I really want to be their voice and their megaphone to call out for change.”More than 20,000 people were expected at the rally by Stoneman Douglas in Florida, and police presence was heavy at a nearby park. Seventeen-year-old Eden Kinlock traveled 20 miles to pass out water, saying that her gesture may seem “like a small thing but it helps in the bigger picture.”One student from Coral Springs, who said he knows many students from Stoneman Douglas, spoke directly to President Donald Trump and said “it’s about time that we see change.””Mr. President, if you’re watching, I am watching you. And you better darn know that I will make sure that you … will have changed this. Or so help me, I will vote you out.”Rallies in New York, Boston and Philadelphia kicked off Saturday morning, and marches in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and San Francisco were expected to begin later in the day.Saturday’s event is the second major demonstration of the month. Students across the country walked out of their schools on March 14, a month to the day after the massacre, sometimes defying principals and superintendents reluctant to sanction a political demonstration. Originally planned as a 17-minute tribute to the students killed, the national walkout grew into a daylong protest in some places, including at the White House and state capitals.In the wake of the Feb. 14 mass shooting, the organizers of Saturday’s march are calling for the sale of assault rifles and large-capacity magazines to be banned and loopholes in background checks closed for all purchases at gun shows and online.The students have tapped into a powerful current of pro-gun control sentiment that has been building for years. They have also partnered with well-funded liberal groups such as Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control advocacy group founded by former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg.The protesters say that the youth leadership of this initiative is what will set it apart from previous attempts to enact stronger gun-control legislation.They are passionate about their cause and savvy on social media, and their protests come amidst upheaval in American society, from the Women’s March to the Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements.”They’ve been very effective in their messaging,” said Sasha Costanza-Chock, an associate professor of civic media in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program in Cambridge, Massachusetts.”They’ve been very smart at taking some of the opposition’s talking points and flipping them in ways that circulate pretty widely in the media and keep their message at the center.”The White House applauded the young activists for “exercising their First Amendment rights today.” In a statement to NBC News, deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters said that “keeping our children safe is a top priority of the president’s, which is why he urged Congress to pass the Fix NICS and STOP School Violence Acts, and signed them into law.”Walters also pointed to the Justice Department’s decision on Friday to ban bump stocks as an illustration that Trump followed through on his promise to “ban devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.”Across the Atlantic Ocean, dozens of protesters were rallying outside the U.S. Embassy in London in solidarity with the March for Our Lives protesters in America.Polls indicate that public opinion nationwide may indeed be shifting on an issue that has simmered for generations, and through dozens of mass shootings. A new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 69 percent of Americans think gun laws in the United States should be tightened. That’s up from 61 percent who said the same in October of 2016 and 55 percent when the AP first asked the question in October of 2013. Overall, 90 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of gun owners now favor stricter gun control laws.But even with claims of historic social momentum on the issue of gun control, the AP poll also found that nearly half of Americans do not expect elected officials to take action. Among the questions facing march organizers and participants will be how to translate this one-day event, regardless of turnout, into meaningful legislative change.One way is by channeling the current energy into mid-term congressional elections this fall. Students in Florida have focused on youth voter registration and there will be a registration booth at the Saturday rally.The Associated Press contributed to this report.Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images, File This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.
Source: NBC San Diego