Gun-control overhaul demanded in rallies across the US

The demonstrations come after mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas, that have reinvigorated the national conversation around gun control and led to congressional hearings about possible legislative reform. Mass-shooting survivors and other victims of gun violence lobbied legislators and testified on Capitol Hill last week.

Saturday’s events, organized by March For Our Lives, a gun-control advocacy group, included gun-violence survivors, family members of victims and students and teachers. The rallies followed a week of meetings between the group’s representatives and members of Congress.

Several thousand demonstrators in Washington braved a light rain and gray skies to cheer speakers while waving signs with slogans such as “Ban Guns, Not Books," and “Fear Has No Place in Our Schools."

In New York City, hundreds marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to gather for a rally in lower Manhattan. A girl walking with a contingent of city schoolteachers carried a colorful, hand-drawn sign that read, “arms are for hugging."

March For Our Lives has advocated for bipartisan gun overhauls since 2018, when a 19-year-old former student opened fire inside a high school in Parkland, Fla., killing 17 people and wounding 17 others. It held its first March For Our Lives that year, filling downtown Washington with more than 200,000 people.

The second March For Our Lives on Saturday drew a smaller crowd in Washington, but organizers also coordinated rallies in many other cities around the country.

Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother was one of 10 people killed in a racially motivated mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo last month, spoke at the Washington rally.

“We are here to stand with those who are bold enough to demand sensible gun legislation that will help reduce the gun violence in our communities," Mr. Whitfield told the crowd. “We are here to demand justice."

Ten days after his mother’s killing, 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde were killed after a gunman entered their school and began shooting.

Despite the recent push for action, House and Senate lawmakers closed the week without announcing a framework on new laws.

Negotiators don’t have an agreement that could pass the Senate, where any bill would need significant bipartisan support. The Democratic-led House pushed through several bills intended to reduce gun violence, including legislation Thursday that would incentivize states to pass extreme protection orders. Yet those bills have no chance of passing in the 50-50 Senate where legislation requires 60 votes to advance.

David Hogg, a former student at Parkland and a founder of March For Our Lives, led the Washington crowd in chants of “This time is different!" and “Vote them out!" He implored the group to pressure state legislatures to act, as Florida did after the tragedy in 2018.

“If our government can’t do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered," he said in a speech, “it’s time to change who is in government. As we gather here today, the next shooter is already plotting his attack while the federal government pretends it can do nothing to stop it."

Caity Begg, a 27-year-old owner of a sales strategy company, came to the rally in lower Manhattan with a white-and-purple sign that said “March for Grace."

Below that was a picture of Grace Audrey McDonnell, a 7-year-old who was among the 26 victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting. Grace’s family is friends with her own family, Ms. Begg said.

“Think about how the families must feel who lost their children 10 years ago, hearing this news about Uvalde and that no common sense [gun] laws have been passed," said Ms. Begg.

Similar rallies took place in Buffalo, Parkland and Chicago, and in Las Vegas, site of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. In 2017, a lone gunman perched on the 32nd floor of a hotel on the Las Vegas strip killed 60 people attending a country music festival and wounded more than 500.

Marches also took place across California, including in Los Angeles and Sacramento, where six people died in a mass shooting outside a bar in April.

In Thousand Oaks, Calif., a residential community in Ventura County, drivers honked horns and waved out their windows as a line of marchers set off to their rally point 2 miles away.

Crowds cheered in response and waved signs carrying messages such as, “Cherish Children, Not Guns," and “Want an AR-15? Join the Army."

In 2018, 12 people were killed inside a country-western bar in Thousand Oaks by a mass shooter.

Natasha Lawson, mother to an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old, said the simplest and most urgent fix she wants from Congress is a ban on assault weapons.

“Why do we need weapons of war on our streets? You hear the stories of what they do to people’s bodies," Ms. Lawson said. “Raise the age limit. Do the background checks. Get the AR-15s off our streets."

As she spoke, a single counterprotester stood on the back of a pickup truck across the street holding a banner with the image of an assault rifle on it.

“Come and take it," the sign said.