Student-led March for Our Lives rally pushes for action on gun violence
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN
March for Our Lives, the student-led movement focused on gun violence prevention, returns to Washington this weekend for a mass demonstration in the wake of recent shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.
The DC march on Saturday afternoon at the Washington Monument is set to feature a slate of speakers pushing for action on gun violence. Rallies are also scheduled in more than 400 US cities in nearly all 50 US states Saturday.
“After countless mass shootings and instances of gun violence in our communities, it’s time to take back to the streets and march for our lives,” the organization’s website states. “We marched in 2018 after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, and now we’re headed back to DC.”
The marches come alongside a renewed push in Congress for gun control. Lawmakers have been facing intense pressure to act in the wake of the recent mass shootings, and at least 10 Republicans need to vote with Democrats in order to clear the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster and pass legislation.
Despite widespread GOP opposition, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the lead Democrat in the bipartisan negotiations, told CNN he believes there will be more than 10 Republicans supporting gun safety measures in the Senate.
“I think we will put together a package that will get more than 10 Republican votes,” he told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day” on Thursday.
March for Our Lives last held a rally in DC in 2018 following the deadly shooting rampage at a Parkland, Florida, high school. Survivors of the shooting delivered a resounding message that Washington’s inaction on the scourge of gun violence is no longer acceptable.
“To the leaders, skeptics and cynics who told us to sit down, stay silent and wait your turn, welcome to the revolution,” then-Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Cameron Kasky told the crowd in Washington at the time.
“Either represent the people or get out. Stand for us or beware.”
The-CNN-Wire
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