March For Our Lives recap: Frustrated Americans rally for gun reform across US
Rallies spanned D.C. to Florida to Michigan to New York.
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.
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Biden tweets support
President Joe Biden tweeted support for the marches Saturday morning.
"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."
Son of Buffalo mass shooting victim among Saturday's speakers
Speakers at Saturday's Washington, D.C., rally will include Garnell Whitfield, son of 86-year-old Buffalo mass shooting victim Ruth Whitfield; David Hogg, a Parkland survivor and March For Our Lives co-founder; and Yolanda King, a 14-year-old granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr.
Garnell Whitfield said to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, "I ask every one of you to imagine the faces of your mothers as you look at mine, and ask yourself, 'Is there nothing that we can do?'"
"Because if there is nothing, then respectfully senators, you should yield your positions of authority and influence the others that are willing to lead on this issue. The urgency of the moment demands no less," he said.