Galvanized by a massacre at a Florida high school, hundreds of thousands of people in the US were yesterday expected to take to the streets in cities across the country in the biggest protest for gun control in a generation.
The student-organized “March For Our Lives” was to feature rallies from coast to coast, with the main event scheduled to take place in Washington within sight of the US Capitol.
“The kids are leading the movement,” said Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, where 20 children aged six and seven years old were killed in December 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — where 17 people were shot dead on Feb. 14 by a 19-year-old former classmate — have been the driving force behind the march.
With a mixture of outrage and passion, they have been relentlessly badgering US lawmakers to enact a ban on assault rifles and to expand background checks to cover all gun purchases, even private sales.
“The march is just the start,” said Aalayah Eastmond, a 17-year-old junior who took shelter beneath the body of a classmate during the Stoneman Douglas shooting.
“Columbine happened — nothing’s changed. Sandy Hook happened — nothing’s changed. Parkland happened — nothing’s changed,” Eastmond said.
“We will fight for this until change happens,” she said at an event with members of US Congress.
Since the Parkland shooting, the state of Florida and Congress have made only modest tweaks to gun laws, while US President Donald Trump’s proposal to arm teachers with firearms has been met with widespread resistance.
Organizers said more than 800 marches were to be held across the country and around the world under the slogan #NeverAgain, with the Washington event alone anticipated to attract at least 500,000 people.
The protests were expected to be the largest for gun control in the US — which has more than 30,000 gun-related deaths per year — since the Million Mom March in May 2000.
The appeals for stricter gun regulations have drawn the backing of Democratic lawmakers, and a slew of US celebrities have pledged US$500,000 donations to support the protests.
They include actor George Clooney and his wife, Amal, a human rights lawyer; actress and media mogul Oprah Winfrey; and director Steven Spielberg and his actress wife, Kate Capshaw.
To perform at the rally in Washington are Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Common, Andra Day and Vic Mensa.
The marchers have also attracted the support of former US president Barack Obama, who tried but failed to reform gun laws following the Sandy Hook slaughter.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, released a letter to the “Students of Parkland” praising their “resilience, resolve and solidarity” and saying that they have helped “awaken the conscience of the nation.”
Former US president Bill Clinton said the US “owes its gratitude to the students of Stoneman Douglas and their peers across the country who have joined their cause.”
Lyft, the ride-hailing service, said it would offer free rides to 50 marches across the US.
Several restaurants in Washington said they would hand out free lunches to high-school students.
Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, sent one of the American football team’s airplanes to Parkland to fly the families of the 17 people killed at Stoneman Douglas to Washington along with injured students.
A Quinnipiac University poll found that 63 percent of US voters approve of the march in support of tougher gun laws, but are not optimistic it will lead to new legislation.
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