‘Enough is enough’: thousands rally across US in
gun control protests
The March for Our Lives rallies come after mass
shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York
New Yorkers join march for gun reform
Thousands of gun control advocates join the March for
Our Lives as they protest against gun violence.
Lauren
Aratani and Edward Helmore in New York
Sat 11 Jun
2022 15.43 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/11/march-for-our-lives-gun-control-protests-washington
Rallies for
gun reform were held in Washington, New York, other US cities and around the
world on Saturday, seeking to increase pressure on Congress to act following a
spate of mass shootings.
In
Washington, the son of an 86-year-old victim in the Buffalo supermarket
shooting said: “Enough is enough. We will not go quietly into the night.”
The March
for Our Lives rallies came less than a month after 10 people were killed in the
racist attack in Buffalo, New York and 19 children and two teachers were killed
at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Other mass
shootings, widely defined as shootings in which four people or more excluding
the shooter are hurt or killed, have also helped put the issue center-stage.
March for
Our Lives was formed in 2018 after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high
school in Parkland, Florida, in which 14 students and three adults were killed.
Organisers estimated a million people, mostly young, joined protests then.
The group
helped force Republicans in Florida to enact reforms including raising the age
to buy long guns, including AR-15-style rifles, from 18 to 21; enacting a
three-day gap between purchase and access; allowing trained school staff to
carry guns; and putting $400m into mental health services and school security.
Florida
lawmakers also approved a “red flag law” that can deny firearms to individuals
believed to pose a danger to themselves or others.
Organisers
on Saturday were focusing on smaller marches at more locations. The DC protest
was expected to draw 50,000. The 2018 march filled downtown Washington with
more than 200,000 people.
By noon on
Saturday, thousands had gathered around the Washington Monument. Protestors
held signs demanding justice for the victims of Uvalde and Buffalo. Speakers
included activists, family members of those killed and shooting survivors.
Garnell
Whitfield, son of Ruth Whitfield, an 86-year-old killed in Buffalo, told the
crowd he and his family were “still in a state of shock”. When she was killed,
Ruth Whitfield was buying groceries after visiting her husband at a nursing
home.
“We are
being naive to think that it couldn’t happen to us,” Garnell Whitfield said.
“Enough is enough. We will not go quietly into the night as victims. We hear a
lot about prayer, and prayer is wonderful and we thank you for your prayers.
But prayer is not a noun, it’s a verb. It’s an action. You pray, then you get
up and you work.”
The parents
of Joaquin Oliver, a 17-year-old killed in the Parkland shooting, wore shirts
bearing a picture of their son.
“I was
hoping to avoid attending a march like this ever again,” Manuel Oliver said,
standing next to his wife, Patricia. “Our elected officials betrayed us and
have avoided the responsibility to end gun violence.”
The crowd
heard from two founders of March for Our Lives, David Hogg and X Gonzalez, both
Parkland survivors.
“All
Americans have a right to not be shot, a right to safety,” Hogg said. “Nowhere
in the constitution is unrestricted access to weapons of war a guaranteed
right.
“We’ve seen
the damage AR-15s do. When we look at the innocent children of Uvalde, tiny
coffins horrify us. Tiny coffins filled with small, mutilated and decapitated
bodies. That should fill us with rage and demands for change.”
Hogg
emphasized state and local gun legislation passed since 2018. He noted a red
flag law that saw a court-ordered disarming of an individual who sent his
mother a death threat. He encouraged the crowd to bring the issue of gun
control to the polls.
“If our
government can’t do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered
in their own school and decapitated, it’s time to change who is in government,”
Hogg said.
Gonzalez
gave an impassioned rebuke to Congress.
“I’ve spent
these past four years doing my best to keep my rage in check. To keep my
profanity at a minimum so everyone can understand and appreciate the arguments
I’m trying to make, but I have reached my fucking limit. We are being murdered.
Cursing will not rob us of our innocence.
“You say
that children are the future, and you never listen to what we say once we’re
old enough to disagree with you, you decaying degenerates. You really want to
protect children, pass some fucking gun laws.”
Gonzalez
said Congress had started treating mass shootings as a “fact of life”, like
natural disasters. She criticized politicians for their relationships with gun
lobbyists, saying: “We saw you cash those fucking checks. We as children did
the heavy lifting for you. Act your age, not your shoe-size, Congress. You
ought to be ashamed.”
Yolanda
King, who spoke at the 2018 March for Our Lives rally when she was nine, spoke
of hope for action after Uvalde and Buffalo. Now 14, she evoked her
grandfather, Martin Luther King Jr.
“My
grandfather was taken from the world by gun violence. Six years after his
death, his mother, my great-grandmother, was killed in church during Sunday
service. We have all been touched by tragedy, we have all been lifted up by
hope.
“Today
we’re telling Congress, we’re telling the gun lobby and we’re telling the world
this time is different. This time is different because we’ve had enough. We’ve
had enough of having more guns than people here in America. Together, we can
carve that stone of love and hope out of that mountain of death and despair.
Together we can build a gun-free world for all people.
Dozens of
other rallies saw protesters call for stronger legislation. In Buffalo,
hundreds protested outside the supermarket where the shooting happened. The
group held a moment of silence and chanted “Not one more”.
March for
Our Lives has called for an assault weapons ban, universal background checks
for gun purchases and a national licensing system.
The US
House has passed bills that would raise the age limit to buy semi-automatic
weapons and establish a federal “red flag” law. But previous such initiatives
have stalled or been watered down in the Senate. The new marches were to take
place a day after senators left Washington without reaching agreement in guns
talks.
On
Saturday, Joe Biden tweeted his support.
“I join
them by repeating my call to Congress: do something,” the president said,
adding that Congress must ban assault weapons, strengthen background checks,
pass red flag laws and repeal gun manufacturers’ immunity to liability.
“We can’t
fail the American people again,” the president wrote.
This week,
mass shooting survivors brought their message to Capitol Hill. Among them was
Miah Cerrillo, an 11-year-old girl who survived the attack in Uvalde, Texas.
She told members of Congress how she covered herself with a dead classmate’s
blood.
The actor
Matthew McConaughey appeared in the White House briefing room to press for
reform and make highly personal remarks about his hometown, Uvalde.
“Responsible
gun owners are fed up with the second amendment being abused and hijacked by
some deranged individuals,” he said. “Regulations are not a step back; they’re
a step forward for a civil society and – and the second amendment.”
Associated
Press and Reuters contributed to this report
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