Washington and other US cities are hoping on Saturday to rally tens of thousands of protesters to urge lawmakers to pass legislation to curb gun violence after last month’s massacre at a Texas elementary school. The attack left 21 dead, including children and teachers.
March for Our Lives (MFOL), a group founded by students who survived the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, said it had planned more than 450 demonstrations for Saturday, including in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The organization’s 2018 march on Washington, weeks after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, brought hundreds of thousands of people to the nation’s capital to pressure Congress to take legislative action, though Republican opposition has precluded any new gun limits in the US Senate.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat who earlier this month called on Congress to ban the carrying of heavy weapons, increase background checks and implement other gun control measures, said he supported Saturday’s protests.
“Today, young people across the country are marching once again with March 4 Our Lives to urge Congress to pass common-sense gun safety legislation supported by most Americans and gun owners,” Biden said in a post on Twitter. Twitter.
“I join them in repeating my appeal to Congress: do something.”
This year’s event in Washington has a simple message for political leaders, according to organizers: “Your inaction is killing Americans.”
“We will no longer allow you to sit around while people continue to die,” Trevon Bosley, an MFOL board member, said in an emailed statement.
Source: CNN Brasil
