US students march against powerful NRA, gun violence
News & Trends •
people are sick and tired of gun violence and the time is now for all of us together to stand up to the nra1 us students walked out of classrooms on wednesday to stage the largest grassroots protest against gun violence seen in years demanding action one month to the day after a deadly shooting rampage at a florida high school1 hundreds of teenagers from washington area schools gathered outside the white house holding up signs reading books not bullets and protect people not guns before marching on the us capitol1 we want to show congress and politicians we are not standing by we are not silent anymore said 17-year-old brenna levitan who was at the protest with her mother1 parkland is going to be the last school shooting1 students in dozens of other cities in all 50 states staged similar demonstrations and observed a moment of silence to honour the 14 students and three adult staff killed a month ago at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland florida1 in washington several hours after the protests broke up us lawmakers took their first significant step to address school gun violence since the parkland shooting1 the house of representatives voted 407-10 to fund violence prevention measures at schools including boosting security mental health screening and creating anonymous reporting systems so students can report threats1 but congress has yet to tackle the more controversial aspects of gun control demanded in the wake of the parkland shooting1 these include expanded background checks for gun sales a ban on assault weapons and raising the minimum age for some firearms purchases1 dressed in the schools maroon colors students at stoneman douglas visited memorials to their slain classmates and hugged and cried1 at a high school in cherry hill new jersey students marched to the football field and assembled in a heart formation to pay tribute to the victims1 in los angeles and other cities teenagers spelled out the protest slogan enough by lying down on the ground on sports fields1 in washington students were joined by democratic members of congress at the capitol1 speakers denounced the national rifle association nra the powerful us gun lobby and demanded that congress enact tougher laws on gun ownership1 you the young people of this country are leading the nation senator bernie sanders told the crowd1 the protest was staged from east to west fromwashington to los angeles1 in new york students many of whom wore orange the color of gun control walked out from more than 50 schools1 we want change and am i next they chanted1 press secretary for new york mayor bill de blasio eric phillips said just over 100000 students took part from the citys schools1 the national school walkout was intended to last for 17 minutes one for each victim1 but tens of thousands of students around the country decided to skip school entirely and protest instead1 at the white house 17-year-old farah parmah who goes to thomas wootton high school in rockville maryland said president donald trumps controversial proposal to arm and train teachers is just a bad bad idea1 gun violence has taken way too many lives this year said parmah who is 171 there should be no guns in schools1 white house spokesman raj shah said trump shares the students concerns about school safety1 meanwhile hillary clinton praised the students wednesday evening calling them an inspiration to millions of americans who know commonsense gun reform is long overdue1 the nationwide protest was held one month to the day after nikolas cruz a troubled 19-year-old former student at stoneman douglas unleashed a hail of gunfire on his one-time classmates1 cruz dressed in a red prison jumpsuit appeared in court in fort lauderdale on wednesday and a judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf1 his lawyers had said he would plead guilty in exchange for guarantees that he would not face execution but prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty1 the united states sees more than 30000 gun-related deaths annually and stoneman douglas students have spearheaded a national gun control campaign helping to force through a new law on age limits for gun purchasers in florida1 the us public supports tougher gun laws according to polls but there is little backing for meaningful reforms in the republican-controlled congress1