March 21, 2023

COMMITTED TO ACTION: #MarchForOurLives protests in cities across America draw thousands

PAY ATTENTION: #MarchForOurLives protests in cities across America draw thousands

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The organizations behind the massive 2018 #MarchForOurLives demonstration— the student-led protest in support of gun control legislation that was launched in the wake of the horrific shootings at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — are back today with a repeat demonstration, both in Washington D.C. and in cities across the country.

The original #MarchForOurLives was organized by the teenage survivors of the shooting who formed a group called Never Again MSD. They coordinated the march in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety, a group formed by the merger of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The initial march attracted between 1.2 and 2 million Americans to its nationwide series of demonstrations, making it one of the largest protests in American history, but it was ultimately unsuccessful in having Congress pass its agenda of legislating universal background checks on all gun sales, raising the federal age of gun ownership and possession to 21,closing of the gun show loophole, a restoration of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines and bump stocks in the United States.

With the recent explosion of mass shootings — including the Tops Supermarket massacre in Buffalo, NY, and the Uvalde, Texas school shootings — the need for another demonstration to help urge recalcitrant Republican politicians to finally take action to pass sensible gun regulations was obvious.

Former Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School student and current Harvard University attendee David Hogg joined with the other founders and board members of March For Our Lives to organize today’s demonstrations both in Washington D.C. and in cities across the country.

Here’s a compendium of Twitter posts from the frontlines of the protests. This first one shows the protests in Buffalo where the reverberations from the Tops Supermarket shootings still echo among the Black population of the city who were specifically targeted by the shooter.

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Downstate in New York City, demonstrators marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and up the street where ticker-tape parades are normally held.

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Across the country in California, March For Our Lives demonstrators gathered as well.

The protests even drew crowds in the deep red South as this video from North Carolina shows.

The demonstrations were a great opportunity for political candidates who support gun reform legislation to raise their profiles with voters, as this Senate candidate from Arkansas did.

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams joined a protest in Savannah, Georgia.

In Denver, Colorado residents expressed their frustrations with the easy availability of assault weapons.

https://twitter.com/katie_robb_/status/1535669283346296834?s=20&t=liCW1MDbpZT4U8cRewiWhA

Indiana residents staged a march in Indianapolis.

Montana, Michigan, Oregon, and Rhode Island were also represented among the cities holding demonstrations

In Parkland, Florida, where the original March For Our Lives originated, protestors rallied around Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist who is attempting to unseat incumbent Ron DeSantis, an NRA favorite who has worked to loosen gun restrictions in the state.

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Meanwhile, at the main March For Our Lives site in Washington D.C., an estimated crowd of 40 thousand people showed up despite the rainy weather.

Let’s hope that this latest edition of #MarchForOurLives finally results in the passage of at least some form of gun legislation that restricts access to assault weapons by the deranged mass shooters who can now buy military-grade armaments with little question.

It’s long past the time.

Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.

Vinnie Longobardo

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.

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