Alwaght- Hundreds of thousands of students have participated at pro-gun control March for Our Lives rallies across the US in one of the most massive expression of popular opposition in recent times.
Events have been taking place at more than 800 locations around the world – including London, Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, Mumbai, plus hundreds of places in the US.
In Washington, the epicenter of the rallies, young, diverse and impassioned protesters marched along Pennsylvania Avenue, carrying signs reading “We are the change”, “No more silence” and “Keep NRA money out of politics”.
Organizers said they hoped their protest would be one of the biggest in the capital since the Vietnam era, and it was clear they had been careful to create a diverse, inclusive group of speakers.
Along with survivors from the attack in Parkland, Florida, who have galvanized the new push for gun reform, speakers included young victims of gun violence from around America. They sang, they chanted, and they challenged their parents generation to be effective in eliminating gun violence from society.
As the students gathered, Donald Trump was whisked by motorcade to his West Palm Beach golf club. Trump later tweeted support for “the victims of the horrible attack in France yesterday” but did not mention the rallies on Twitter.
Students and gun control advocates have called for another national school walkout on April 20 to commemorate the Columbine High School shooting in which 13 people were killed in 1999.
Deaths from gun violence have remained constant through the years and have a major impact on children and teens. Gun-related deaths are the third-leading cause of death for children and approximately three million are exposed to shootings each year, according to Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an organisation advocating for gun control.
A 2017 official analysis showed that 5,790 total Americans under the age of 17 are shot each year. The majority of those victims are in their teens, though that still leaves more than 900 shootings of children aged 12 and younger each year. Twenty-two percent of gun violence incidents involving children and teens are fatal.
That’s the most recent year for which federal data is available. By that count, the national firearm death rate climbed to 12.0 per 100,000 people in 2016 — a level not seen since the mid-1990s.
