WASHINGTON -- Thousands of people rallied on the National Mall and across the United States on Saturday in a renewed push for gun control measures after recent deadly mass shootings from Uvalde, Texas, to Buffalo, N.Y., that activists say should compel Congress to act.
"Enough is enough," District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser told the second March for Our Lives rally in her city. "I speak as a mayor, a mom, and I speak for millions of Americans and America's mayors who are demanding that Congress do its job. And its job is to protect us, to protect our children from gun violence."
Speaker after speaker in Washington called on senators, who are seen as a major impediment to legislation, to act or face being voted out of office, especially given the shock to the nation's conscience after 19 children and two teachers were killed May 24 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
"If our government can't do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered in their own school, and decapitated, it's time to change who is in government," said David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 shooting that killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
A co-founder of the March For Our Lives organization that was created after that shooting and held its first rally in Washington not long afterward, Hogg led the crowd in chants of "Vote them out."
Another Parkland survivor and group co-founder, X Gonzalez, delivered an impassioned, profanity-laced plea to Congress for change. "We are being murdered," they screamed and implored Congress to "act your age, not your shoe size."
Yolanda King, granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr., added: "This time is different because this isn't about politics. It's about morality. Not right and left, but right and wrong, and that doesn't just mean thoughts and prayers. That means courage and action."
Manuel Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was killed in the Parkland shooting, called on students "to avoid going back to school until our elected leaders stop avoiding the crisis of gun violence in America and start acting to save our lives."
Hundreds gathered at an amphitheater in Parkland, where Debra Hixon, whose husband -- high school athletic director Chris Hixon -- died in the shooting, said it is "all too easy" for young men to walk into stores and buy weapons.
"Going home to an empty bed and an empty seat at the table is a constant reminder that he is gone," Hixon, who now serves as a school board member, said. "We weren't done making memories, sharing dreams and living life together. Gun violence ripped that away from my family."
The U.S. House has passed bills to raise the age limit to buy semi-automatic weapons and establish federal "red flag" laws. A bipartisan group of senators had hoped to reach agreement last week on a framework for addressing the issue and held talks Friday, but no deal was announced.
President Joe Biden, who was in California when the Washington rally began, said his message to demonstrators was "keep marching" and added that he is "mildly optimistic" about legislative negotiations to address gun violence.
In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams, who campaigned on reining in violence in the city, joined state Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing the National Rifle Association, in leading activists across the Brooklyn Bridge.
"Nothing happens in this country until young people stand up -- not politicians," James said.
Hundreds of protesters in Milwaukee marched from the county courthouse to the city's Deer District, where last month 21 people were injured in shootings on the night of an NBA playoff game. Organizer Tatiana Washington, whose aunt was killed by gun violence in 2017, said this year's march is particularly significant to Milwaukee residents.
"A lot of us are still very heavily thinking about the mass shooting that occurred after the Bucks game," Washington said. "We shouldn't be scared to go watch our team in the playoffs and live in fear that we're going to be shot at."
The passion that the issue stirs was clear in Washington when a young man jumped the barricade and tried to rush the stage before being intercepted by security. The incident caused a brief panic as people began to scatter.
Organizers hoped the second March for Our Lives rally would draw as many as 50,000 people to the Washington Monument, though the crowd seemed closer to 30,000. The 2018 event attracted more than 200,000 people, but the focus this time was on smaller marches at an estimated 300 locations.
Information for this article was contributed by Jennifer Peltz, David Sharp and Chris Megerian of The Associated Press.
With the White House in the background, Garnell Whitfield, Jr., of Buffalo, N.Y., whose mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the Buffalo Tops supermarket mass shooting, speaks during the second March for Our Lives rally in support of gun control, Saturday, June 11, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)Gallery: Thousands rally for gun control
