Tens of thousands of protestors in Washington take aim at politicians and the NRA to end gun violence
Tens of thousands of students, parents, teachers, and others supporting gun control filled the streets in Washington, DC, on Saturday.
Students and families from all over the country traveled to DC to join the march.
One family from Westchester, New York said they traveled to DC to raise awareness about gun violence and to support the Parkland students.
Nine-year-old Emma Weill-Jones participated in a rally in Philadelphia.
The main event was organized in Washington.
On February 14, a gunman shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Student survivors from the massacre, who have since mobilized against gun violence, organized the march.
Some celebrities, lawmakers, and gun control groups supported the march, helping fund the organizers and bus people into Washington who otherwise might not have been able to attend.
Hundreds of other protests took place in cities around the world as well.
The protestors aimed their frustrations at the National Rifle Association (NRA), one of the country's most powerful lobbying groups and a key defender of the Second Amendment.
Gun control activists are also calling on lawmakers who support the NRA to be voted out of office.
This group of sophomores and juniors from Christo Rey high school in Newark took a 5 am bus down to DC today pic.twitter.com/GSG8mNjKf4
— Eliza Relman (@eliza_relman) March 24, 2018"We are going to make this the voting issue," David Hogg, a senior at Stoneman Douglas and staunch supporter of gun control, said during a speech at the march. "We are going to take this to every election in every state and every city. We are going to make sure the best people get into our elections to run not as politicians but as Americans."
Gun control activists tend to perceive the NRA as an impediment to what they refer to as "common sense" solutions to gun violence.
Kyle Kashuv, another student survivor from Stoneman Douglas who has been an outspoken advocate of the Second Amendment, decided not to attend Saturday's march in DC.
Kashuv, who disagrees with gun control and has met with lawmakers to shore up background checks, explained his decision not to attend to Fox Business Network: "I could march, but I think my time would be much better well spent meeting with legislators."
Source: Fox Business Network
Many of the protestors who attended the march are pushing for stronger background checks as well.
They're also calling for a ban on assault rifles like the AR-15, which was the type of gun used in the Parkland shooting and many others.
"I have a dream that enough is enough, and that this should be a gun free world," Yolanda King, the 9-year-old granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr. said on Saturday. "Spread the word, have you heard, all across the nation, we are going to be a great generation."
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