• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Film/TV/Stream
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Tech/Science
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox

Thousands demonstrate for action on US gun violence

Towleroad June 11, 2022 Leave a Comment

Published by
AFP
585356 origin 1
Protesters hold signs in Washington, DC during a demonstration calling for action on US gun violence on June 11, 2022

Washington (AFP) – Thousands of people took to the streets in the United States on Saturday to push for action on the devastating gun violence plaguing the country, where Republican politicians have repeatedly blocked efforts to enact stricter firearms laws.   

Protesters of all ages streamed onto the National Mall in Washington, where a gun violence prevention group placed more than 45,000 white vases holding flowers — one for each person killed by a firearm in the United States in 2020.

“Protect People Not Guns,” said one sign held by a protester near the Washington Monument. “Fear Has No Place In Schools,” read another.

Two horrific shootings last month — one at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 young children and two teachers, and another at a New York supermarket that left 10 Black people dead — helped spark the call for the protests.

But the problem of gun violence — which has killed more than 19,300 people so far this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive — goes far beyond high-profile mass killings, with more than half of those deaths due to suicide.

“The will of the American people is being subverted by a minority,” said Cynthia Martins, a 63-year-old resident of the US capital, referring to the Republican Party.

She carried a sign that used the party’s “GOP” moniker to spell out “Guns Over People.” 

“There’s a reason that we’re still in this situation and there’s still mass shootings,” Martins said, adding: “Hand wringing is not going to do anything — you have to make your voice heard.”

Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother was killed in the racially motivated supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York on May 14, spoke from a stage at the Washington protest.

“We are here to demand justice,” Whitfield said. “We are here to stand with those who are bold enough to demand sensible gun legislation.” 

The protests were organized by March for Our Lives, which was founded by survivors of a shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, who held a rally that drew hundreds of thousands of people to the nation’s capital in March 2018.

Demonstrators marched in Parkland on Saturday, carrying signs with messages such as “Am I Next?” and “Books Not Bulletproof Backpacks.”

Widespread outrage, little change

Protesters also turned out in New York City, with demonstrations planned at hundreds of locations around the country.

Ease of access to firearms, and mental health problems that can lead to them being used in attacks, have both been in the spotlight in the wake of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.

The massacre was carried out by a gunman who bought two assault rifles shortly after turning 18.

Gun control advocates are calling for tighter restrictions or an outright ban on such rifles, one of which was also used in Buffalo. But opponents of tougher regulations have sought to cast mass shootings as primarily a mental health issue, not a weapons problem.

Frequent mass shootings have led to widespread outrage in the United States, where a majority of people support tighter gun laws, but opposition from many Republican lawmakers has long been a hurdle to major changes.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a broad package of proposals this week that included raising the purchasing age for most semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, but the party does not have the requisite 60 votes to advance it in the Senate.

A cross-party group of senators has also been working on a narrow collection of controls that could develop into the first serious attempt at gun regulation reform in decades.

The package would boost funding for mental health services and school security, narrowly expand background checks, and incentivize states to institute so-called “red flag laws” that enable authorities to confiscate weapons from individuals considered a threat.

But it does not include an assault weapons ban or universal background checks, meaning it will fall short of the expectations of President Joe Biden, progressive Democrats and anti-gun violence activists.

Topics: Aaon, Activism, Books, Deaths, Guns, Health More Posts About: Buffalo, New York, Gun Violence Archive, March For Our Lives, National Mall, Washington Monument

Related Posts
  • Landmark gun-safety bill heads to U.S. House after Senate passage
  • No deal to end gun violence, U.S. Republican lawmaker says
  • U.S. files hate crimes charges against white gunman in Buffalo shooting
  • Black gun owners to gain from Supreme Court overturning of New York license to carry weapons law

    Black gun owners to gain from Supreme Court overturning of New York license to carry weapons law

    Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — Black people are more likely to be jailed for weapons possession than other New Yorkers — giving public defenders and civil rights advocates reason to support last …Read More »
  • Leaders at G7 mock bare-chested horseback rider Putin

    Leaders at G7 mock bare-chested horseback rider Putin

    Published by Reuters SCHLOSS ELMAU, Germany (Reuters) – Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations mocked the macho image of their absent adversary Vladimir Putin on Sunday, at a meeting in Germany dominated by the …Read More »
  • Turkey police break up Istanbul Pride march, detain dozens: AFP

    Turkey police break up Istanbul Pride march, detain dozens: AFP

    Published by Al-Araby Turkish police on Sunday forcibly intervened in a Pride march in Istanbul, detaining dozens of demonstrators and an AFP photographer, AFP journalists on the ground said. The governor’s office had banned the march …Read More »
  • Raiders‘ Carl Nassib Salutes Pride Month With Charity Effort

    Raiders‘ Carl Nassib Salutes Pride Month With Charity Effort

    Published by Sports Illustrated By Thomas Neumann Nassib commemorated Pride Month by revealing a charitable donation on Instagram. View the original article to see embedded media. Carl Nassib is a leader on and off the field …Read More »
Previous Post: « Rebel Wilson’s romance with Ramona Agruma is ‘very serious’
Next Post: Todd Chrisley Gets Surprise Visit From Daughter Savannah While On House Arrest »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Billie Eilish tells Glastonbury fans to scream away anxieties at history making headline slot

    Billie Eilish tells Glastonbury fans to scream away anxieties at history making headline slot

  • Landmark gun-safety bill heads to U.S. House after Senate passage

    Landmark gun-safety bill heads to U.S. House after Senate passage

  • Prosecutors seek 25-year prison sentence for Chauvin over breach of Floyd’s rights

    Prosecutors seek 25-year prison sentence for Chauvin over breach of Floyd’s rights

RSS Partner Links

  • Pink Has A Biting Message For Fans Who Support Supreme Court Abortion Ruling
  • Rudy Guiliani Was Slapped By Supermarket Worker on Staten Island
  • President Biden: The Dobbs decision ‘must not be the final word. This is not over.’
  • AG Garland: DOJ will protect & ensure access to abortion medication
  • Sutton Foster Has COVID-19; Will Miss Performances of 'The Music Man'
  • Lizzo & Billy Porter Made Fashionable & Dramatic Entrances To BET Awards 2022
  • Open Post: Hosted By The Dog Who Tried To Compete In A Soccer Game

Most Recent

  • Turn UP VOLUME  To Feel A Bit Better: Olivia Rodrigo And Lily Allen Dedicate F*** You Song to 6 Justices Of The Supreme Court At Glastonbury  Festival

    Turn UP VOLUME To Feel A Bit Better: Olivia Rodrigo And Lily Allen Dedicate F*** You Song to 6 Justices Of The Supreme Court At Glastonbury Festival

  • Black gun owners to gain from Supreme Court overturning of New York license to carry weapons law

    Black gun owners to gain from Supreme Court overturning of New York license to carry weapons law

  • Leaders at G7 mock bare-chested horseback rider Putin

    Leaders at G7 mock bare-chested horseback rider Putin

  • Turkey police break up Istanbul Pride march, detain dozens: AFP

    Turkey police break up Istanbul Pride march, detain dozens: AFP

  • Raiders‘ Carl Nassib Salutes Pride Month With Charity Effort

    Raiders‘ Carl Nassib Salutes Pride Month With Charity Effort

  • At Pride parades, revelry turns to resistance after Roe v. Wade reversal

    At Pride parades, revelry turns to resistance after Roe v. Wade reversal

  • Half Of LGBT People Have Symptoms Of Anxiety: Census

    Half Of LGBT People Have Symptoms Of Anxiety: Census

  • Anderson Cooper: Shirtless Richard Gere made me realise I was gay

    Anderson Cooper: Shirtless Richard Gere made me realise I was gay

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy
[towleroadmr] [towleroadtn]

Footer

Copyright © 2022 · Log in