Students March Against Gun Violence    

Students around the country seized the nation’s attention on Saturday as they marched against gun violence with raised fists and tear-streaked faces. The marches were planned by student activists in response to the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.

Standing before vast crowds in the nation’s capital and in cities and towns across the country, the speakers—nearly all of them students—delivered an anguished and defiant message: They will stop at nothing to get politicians to take action to prevent gun violence.

“Today, we march,” Delaney Tarr, a 17-year-old senior at Stoneman Douglas, told those gathered in Washington, D.C. “We fight. We roar. We prepare our signs. We raise them high. We know what we want, we know how to get it, and we are not waiting anymore.”

The crowd at the Washington, D.C., rally—called March for Our Lives—was estimated at several hundred thousand. Around the country and abroad, hundreds of thousands more participated in about 800 coordinated marches. Aerial video captured seas of people—in front of Trump International Hotel in New York City; in a central square in Tokyo, Japan; along the streets of Boston, Massachusetts; at a rally in downtown Fort Worth, Texas; and crammed into a park less than a mile from Stoneman Douglas High.

Speakers called for gun control and pledged to use their newfound political power in the midterm elections this fall. Lawmakers in Congress have largely disregarded students’ pleas for action in the five weeks since the Parkland shooting.

“If they continue to ignore us, to only pretend to listen, then we will take action where it counts,” Tarr said. “We will take action every day in every way until they simply cannot ignore us anymore.”

With soaring speeches, emotional chants, and hand-painted signs, the protesters criticized the National Rifle Association (N.R.A.), the nation’s most powerful gun rights group. They also spoke out against politicians who have for decades largely declined to pass stronger gun laws. A sign in Washington, D.C., declared “Graduations, not funerals!” while another in New York said “I should be learning, not protesting.” Crowds in Chicago chanted, “Fear has no place in our schools” as they marched.

Celebrities, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, and Miley Cyrus, performed in Washington, D.C., where politicians and adult activists were largely sidelined and students took center stage. The most powerful, and impassioned, moments came from the student survivors of the Parkland shooting, who declared themselves angry, impatient, and determined to stop school shootings.

Emma González, a senior at Stoneman Douglas who has become famous for her activism in the aftermath of the shooting, spoke for just under two minutes at the Washington, D.C., march. She described the effects of gun violence in emotional detail and recited the names of classmates who had been killed. Then she stood silently for four minutes and 26 seconds—until a timer went off.

“Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds,” González said, referring to the amount of time the shooting at Stoneman Douglas lasted. “The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest

“Fight for your lives, before it’s someone else’s job,” González continued, and then walked offstage.

But the Parkland students weren’t the only ones to share their stories. An 11-year-old girl from Virginia, Naomi Wadler, captivated the audience as she declared “Never again!” on behalf of black women and girls who have been victims of gun violence.

“People have said that I am too young to have these thoughts on my own,” she said. “People have said that I am a tool of some nameless adult. It’s not true. My friends and I might still be 11, and we might still be in elementary school, but we know.”

Organizers at national gun control groups noted that demonstrations took place in 390 of the country’s 435 congressional districts.

“The mass shooting generation is nearing voting age,” said John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a national group that advocates for tougher gun laws. “They know the midterms are six months away, and they plan to make sure that they vote and they get others to register to vote. They are absolutely poised to turn this moment into a movement.”

Gun rights organizations, which have worked since the Parkland shooting to head off any significant new gun restrictions, largely stayed silent on Saturday. A spokesman for the N.R.A. declined to comment.

But small counter-protests in favor of gun rights did take place in several cities. In Salt Lake City, Utah, several hundred people gathered near a high school. Brandon McKee, who wore a pistol on his belt, brought his daughter, Kendall, 11, who held a sign that read, “Criminals love gun control.”

“I believe it’s their goal to unarm America, and that’s why we’re here today,” Brandon McKee said of the Washington, D.C., marchers. 

In towns like Dahlonega, Georgia, protesters at smaller rallies sought to demonstrate a desire for new gun restrictions even in rural, Republican-leaning communities where gun ownership is common and support for the Second Amendment is strong.

“We’re going to be the generation that takes down the gun lobby,” Marisa Pyle, 20, said through a red megaphone to a group of several hundred people gathered in Dahlonega.

One of the largest gatherings outside Washington was in Parkland, Florida, at a park not far from Stoneman Douglas. During that event, 17 students from the school silently took the stage to represent the students and staff who had been killed. (Florida prosecutors have announced that they will seek the death penalty against the alleged Parkland gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz.)

Anthony Montalto, the brother of Gina Rose Montalto, one of those killed, held a sign that said: “My sister could not make it here today. I’m here for her.”

Marches were also held in several European countries, as well as Japan, Brazil, Haiti, Australia, and other places around the world. But the largest rally, by far, was in Washington, D.C., where a stage and giant television monitors were set up in the shadow of the Capitol.

Most Republican and Democratic members of Congress had already left the city to return to their home districts for spring break. President Donald Trump spent Saturday afternoon in Florida at the Trump International Golf Club, less than an hour north of Parkland. A White House spokeswoman said in a statement, “We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today.”

For more on student activism in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas shooting and related resources, click here.

Discussion Questions

1. What do the student activists who organized March for Our Lives say they are trying to achieve?

2. How did Emma González use her time onstage at the march? Do you think her approach was effective? Why or why not?

3. Why did supporters of gun rights turn out to protest?

4. What does John Feinblatt mean when he says that student activists are going to turn “this moment into a movement”? Do you think he’s right? Explain.

5. Do you think student activists will be able to make a difference in the gun control debate? Explain.