{"id":755,"date":"2018-03-24T14:42:01","date_gmt":"2018-03-24T18:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=755"},"modified":"2018-03-24T14:42:01","modified_gmt":"2018-03-24T18:42:01","slug":"thousands-gather-in-washington-other-us-cities-for-anti-gun-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=755","title":{"rendered":"Thousands gather in Washington, other US cities for anti-gun protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ashraf Khalil and Calvin Woodward\u00a0ASSOCIATED PRESS\u00a0\u00a0MARCH 24, 2018<\/p>\n

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NICHOLAS KAMM\/FP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/div>\n
Ralliers arrived for the March For Our Lives event against gun violence in Washington on Saturday.<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Summoned to action by student survivors of the Florida school shooting, hundreds of thousands of teenagers and their supporters rallied in the nation\u2019s capital and cities across America on Saturday to press for gun control in one of the biggest youth protests since the Vietnam era.<\/p>\n

Organizers of the March for Our Lives rally in Washington hoped their protest would match in numbers and spirit last year\u2019s women\u2019s march, one of the biggest protests in the capital since the Vietnam era and one that far exceeded predictions of 300,000 demonstrators.<\/p>\n

Bearing signs reading \u2018\u2018We Are the Change,\u2019\u2019 \u2018’No More Silence\u2019\u2019 and \u2018\u2018Keep NRA Money Out of Politics,\u2019\u2019 protesters packed Pennsylvania Avenue from the stage near the Capitol, stretching many blocks back toward the White House.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018We will continue to fight for our dead friends,\u2019\u2019 Delaney Tarr, a survivor of the Florida tragedy, declared from the stage. The crowd roared with approval as she laid down the students\u2019 central demand: a ban on \u2018\u2018weapons of war\u2019\u2019 for all but warriors.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018It\u2019s pretty simple for me,\u2019\u2019 said Zoe Tate, 11, from Gaithersburg Middle School in Maryland, explaining why she marched in Washington. \u2018\u2018I think guns are dumb. It\u2019s scary enough with the security guards we have in school. We don\u2019t need teachers carrying guns now. I find it amazing that I have to explain that idea to adults.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Said her mother, Maria Blaeuer: \u2018\u2018For our kids, feeling safe is fundamental, and they don\u2019t feel safe.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Large rallies also unfolded in such cities as Boston; New York; Chicago; Houston; Fort Worth, Texas; Minneapolis; and Parkland, Florida, the site of the Feb. 14 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead.<\/p>\n

The police presence was heavy as more than 20,000 people filled a park near the Florida school, chanting slogans such as \u2018\u2018Enough is enough\u2019\u2019 and carrying signs that read \u2018\u2018Why do your guns matter more than our lives?\u2019\u2019 and \u2018\u2018Our ballots will stop bullets.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The National Rifle Association went silent on Twitter on Saturday morning, in contrast to its reaction to the nationwide school walkouts against gun violence March 14, when it tweeted a photo of an assault rifle and the message \u2018\u2018I’ll control my own guns, thank you.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

As of early afternoon, Trump himself had yet to weigh in on Twitter about the protests.<\/p>\n

About 30 gun-rights supporters staged a counter-demonstration in front of the FBI headquarters, standing quietly with signs such as \u2018\u2018Armed Victims Live Longer\u2019\u2019 and \u2018\u2018Stop Violating Civil Rights.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Gun violence was fresh for some in the Washington crowd: Ayanne Johnson of Great Mills High School in Maryland held a sign declaring, \u2018\u2018I March for Jaelynn,\u2019\u2019 honoring Jaelynn Willey, who died Thursday two days after being shot by a classmate at the school. A boy was injured in the attack, and the shooter died.<\/p>\n

Michael Rocco, an 18-year-old freshman at Emerson College in Boston, came to Washington to support the students\u2019 calls for banning high-capacity magazines and assault-type rifles like the one used by the Florida killer, tightening background checks and school security, and raising the age to buy guns. He said he grew up in an era of school violence.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018I’ve been genuinely terrified of mass shooting,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u2018\u2018When I was a kid, I was always scared to go to movie theaters because I was afraid I was going to be killed.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Rallying outside the New Hampshire Statehouse in Concord, 17-year-old Leeza Richter said: \u2018\u2018Our government will do more to stop us from walking out than it will to stop a gunman from walking in.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Since the bloodshed in Florida, students have tapped into a current of gun control sentiment that has been building for years \u2014 yet still faces a powerful foe in the NRA and its supporters.<\/p>\n

Organizers hope the passions of the crowds and the under-18 roster of speakers will translate into a tipping point starting with the midterm congressional elections this fall.<\/p>\n

In Atlanta, Lindsey Alexander, a freshman at Decatur High School in Decatur, Georgia, attended her first protest, inspired by hearing Parkland students debate the NRA on television.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018If nothing changes, we\u2019re going to continue to have school shootings,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u2018\u2018I understand the Second Amendment is important. We’ve always had this right. But when the Founding Fathers put that right in place, they didn\u2019t mean it to become what it is today.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Polls indicate that public opinion nationwide may be shifting on an issue that has simmered for generations, and through dozens of mass shootings.<\/p>\n

A new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 69 percent of Americans think gun laws in the U.S. should be tightened. That\u2019s up from 61 percent who said the same in October 2016 and 55 percent when the AP first asked the question in October 2013. Overall, 90 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of gun owners now favor stricter gun control laws.<\/p>\n

But even with claims of historic social momentum on the issue of gun control, the AP poll also found that nearly half of Americans do not expect elected officials to take action.<\/p>\n

Among the questions facing march organizers and participants will be how to translate this one-day event into legislative change. One way they hope to do that is by registering young voters and channeling energy into the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Terry Spencer in Parkland, Florida; Jacob Jordan in Atlanta; and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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