March For Our Lives recap: Frustrated Americans rally for gun reform across US

Rallies spanned D.C. to Florida to Michigan to New York.

ByEmily Shapiro
Last Updated: June 11, 2022, 6:45 PM EDT

Angry and frustrated Americans joined rallies and marches across the U.S. Saturday to advocate for gun reform in the wake of the back-to-back mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.

The nationwide event was organized by March For Our Lives, a group founded by student survivors of the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.

The marches are in response to the May 24 shooting at a Uvalde elementary school that killed 19 students and two teachers, as well as the May 14 massacre at a Buffalo grocery store where 10 people, all of whom were Black, were gunned down in an alleged hate crime.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jun 11, 2022, 1:04 PM EDT

DC mayor: Tell your senators 'make change now-- or get out of our way'

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser told D.C. protesters she's frustrated because "we have been here before."

Sara Steed stands with her son, Gideon Steed, 11, during a March for Our Lives rally for gun control in Lansing, Mich., June 11, 2022.
Emily Elconin/Reuters

"We're not asking for a lot. We're asking to drop off our children at school without having to worry that someone will bring an AR-15 into their classroom. We are asking to go to the grocery store without worrying that someone will be shot dead by a gunman who is filled with hate. We are asking to let our children go to the playground without worrying that a car will drive by, firing a high-capacity magazine," the mayor said. "We're done asking. We're demanding change and we're demanding change now."

Participants hold placards during a "March for our lives" rally for gun control in Parkland, Fla., June 11, 2022.
Marco Bello/Reuters

She urged Americans "who share our values to let their senators know that they neither need to make change now-- or get out of our way."

Jun 11, 2022, 12:44 PM EDT

Buffalo victim's son: 'Until it happened to us, we were sitting on the sidelines'

Garnell Whitfield Jr., son of 86-year-old Buffalo, New York, mass shooting victim Ruth Whitfield, told the Washington, D.C., crowd, "We were being naïve to think that it couldn’t happen to us. And until it happened to us, we were sitting on the sidelines."

"Guns by themselves are only one aspect of a much more insidious problem in America," he said, calling out the systems he said radicalize mass gunmen, "filling them with weapons and hate-fueled rhetoric."

"Through their inaction they're giving their tacit approval," he said, demanding the passage of an anti-white supremacy hate crime bill.

Trevon Bosley, a board member for March For Our Lives, speaks during the March, one of a series of nationwide protests against gun violence, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., June 11, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

PHOTO: With the White House in the background, Garnell Whitfield, Jr., whose mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the Buffalo Tops supermarket mass shooting, speaks during the second March for Our Lives rally in support of gun control, June 11, 2022.
With the White House in the background, Garnell Whitfield, Jr., of Buffalo, N.Y., whose mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the Buffalo Tops supermarket mass shooting, speaks during the second March for Our Lives rally in support of gun control, June 11, 2022.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

The Rev. Denise Walden-Glenn, whose brother died of gun violence in Buffalo, addressed the crowd ahead of Whitfield.

She said she's "working tirelessly to figure out long-term, sustainable solutions" to address gun violence and issues that plague Black and Brown communities across the U.S.

"We need a national government that understands equity," she said. "We are tired of them not valuing us."

She added, "If they don’t give us what we ask for, we will vote them out."

Jun 11, 2022, 12:03 PM EDT

Lawmakers join Florida, Michigan rallies

Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., joined a Saturday morning march in Parkland, Florida, home to the 2018 high school mass shooting that killed 17 students and educators.

"In the great struggle to rid our communities of gun violence, the kids will win," he wrote.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., attended a local rally in Michigan, where a student held a sign reading, "I should be writing my college essay not my will."

Jun 11, 2022, 10:10 AM EDT

Biden tweets support

President Joe Biden tweeted support for the marches Saturday morning.

Protestors embrace as they attend a March for Our Lives rally against gun violence on the National Mall, June 11, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Gun control advocates participate in the 'March for Our Lives' as they protest against gun violence during a rally near the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., June 11, 2022.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

"Today, young people around the country once again march with [March For Our Lives] to call on Congress to pass commonsense gun safety legislation supported by the majority of Americans and gun owners," Biden tweeted. "I join them by repeating my call to Congress: do something."