WASHINGTON — Thousands of demonstrators took to 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., which started at noon.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser drew loud cheers from the crowd as she called for common sense gun laws, including mandatory background checks and a ban on assault rifles.
“We don’t have to live like this,” she said, adding that people in other countries “don’t live like this.”
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., shared a story of having been in an abusive relationship when she was younger in which her partner shot at her multiple times. “That moment when gun violence strikes is so dramatic and so preventable,” she said. “I didn’t know when he would stop.”
The rallies were organized by March for Our Lives, a youth-driven organization first created by students who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
In Parkland, where the movement began, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Pine Trails Park Amphitheater Saturday morning to demand background checks for all gun sales, the implementation of “red-flag” laws and an increase in the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
Manuel Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was among those killed in Parkland, also addressed the crowd in Washington. “Our elected officials betrayed us and have avoided the responsibility to end gun violence,” he said, calling for students not to attend school until elected officials “stop avoiding the crisis of gun violence in America.”
At around 1:30 p.m., a person standing near a group of counter-protesters began to yell during a moment of silence for victims of gun violence, prompting some in the crowd to run away. Several attendees were seen crying after the incident.
Katie Hathaway, an attendee who traveled from Florida for the march, said the incident was “traumatizing.” She heard a shout and everyone started running.
Shortly after, a man took to the stage to reassure the crowd, saying, “There is no threat.”
As talks on gun restrictions continue on Capitol Hill, the House passed a “red-flag” bill Thursday that would allow a judge to take firearms away from individuals who pose an imminent danger to themselves or others. The legislation, which drew five Republican votes, is viewed as having a greater chance of advancing than some of the other bills in the evenly split Senate.
On Wednesday, the House also passed a series of new gun measures, which include raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. That legislative package is all but guaranteed to fail in the upper chamber because of Republican opposition.
“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 co-founder of March for Our Lives, said in a statement ahead of the rallies.
According to Serena Rodrigues, a national coordinator for March for Our Lives, the organization participated in 71 meetings with elected officials on Capitol Hill this past week.
“I feel confident that we’ll get something probably like universal background checks,” she told NBC News. “But we’ll keep pushing for more.”
Since March for Our Lives last organized nationwide protests in 2018, mass shootings have become increasingly more frequent.
At least 254 mass shootings have taken place in the U.S. so far this year, according to the Gun…