MARCHING FOR THEIR LIVES
US students demand stricter gun laws
On 24 March, hundreds of thousands of young people held marches in more than 800 cities across the US and the world. They were protesting against the US’s gun laws and demanding that politicians listen to their calls for change.
What happened?
Survivors of gun violence, together with people whose loved ones have died because of guns, joined the March For Our Lives movement, which campaigns for stricter gun control. In Washington, DC, the US capital, hundreds of thousands of people marched to Capitol Hill, where the parliament building stands, carrying banners and signs that said, “We are the change” and “No more silence”. Several celebrities joined the marches, including Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, and there were performances from singers such as Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus. In the UK, there were demonstrations in Edinburgh and outside the US embassy in London.
Why were they marching?
The March For Our Lives was organised after 17 people died and several others were injured by a former student with a gun at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February. Students want stricter laws to make it more difficult for people to be able to get guns. “It’s an issue of life and death,” explained Alex Wind, one of the organisers of the march.
Who spoke at the protests?
Parkland student Emma Gonzalez, 18, who helped organise the march, read out the names of all the people who had died at her school and then stayed quiet until she had been on the stage for six minutes and 20 seconds. That was the amount of time the attack had taken, she said. Yolanda Renee King, nine, the granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr, who campaigned for equal rights for black people in the US in the 1960s, said she dreamt of “a gun-free world”.
What was the reaction?
Many protesters were disappointed that Donald Trump, the US president, did not send them a message of support. However, a statement from the US government praised the “many courageous young Americans” who were demonstrating, and the government said it was taking action to stop gun violence in schools, including improving school security and training students and teachers about what to do in an attack.
Former US president, Barack Obama, tweeted that he and his wife, Michelle, were “inspired by all the young people who made today’s marches happen”.
What happens next?
The March For Our Lives organisers are urging people to support politicians who want stricter gun controls. They have also called for meetings with politicians to take place on 7 April and are planning a walkout from classes on 20 April, the anniversary of a school shooting in Columbine, Colorado, in 1999. There are already signs that their powerful protests are working, as some US states begin to make changes to their gun laws. For example, Florida has now raised the age limit for buying guns from 18 to 21.