Teenage students gathered in Washington for the "March for Our Lives rally," while thousands marched in Parkland, Fla., and cities around the world
An extraordinary student mobilization brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of U.S. cities Saturday to demand tougher gun laws, in a muscular display of political determination less than six weeks after the school massacre in Parkland, Fla.
Teenage students who emerged as national figures after the Feb. 14 shooting flew to Washington to address the largest "March for Our Lives rally," while thousands marched in Parkland and cities around the world.
At many rallies, there was barely a mention of the killer, Nikolas Cruz, the expelled Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who shot 17 students and staff to death and wounded 17 more. Instead, the wrath of speakers fell on political leaders who they said had sold out to the National Rifle Association in refusing to support limits on gun ownership.
"If you listen real close, you can hear the people in power shaking," said David Hogg, a Stoneman Douglas senior and one of the most prominent student leaders, addressing a Washington crowd estimated by organizers at 800,000. "Inaction is no longer safe. And to that we say, 'No more.' Most representatives have no public stance on guns. To this we say, 'No more.'"
"We are going to make this the voting issue. We are going to make sure the best people get in our elections to run not as politicians but as Americans. Because this is not cutting it. ... When politicians send their thoughts and prayers with no action, we say, 'No more.'"
Sarah Chadwick, a Stoneman Douglas junior, said, "This is not a red versus blue issue. It's a moral issue. We will no longer be hunted down and treated like prey by politicians who simply don't care about us."
She left the stage to chants of "Vote them out!"
Among the most striking moments came when Emma Gonzalez, another of the most prominent leaders, stood in silence before the crowd, tears rolling down her cheeks for an agonizingly long time, until a timer went off.
"Since the time that I came out here, it has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds," she said. "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."
The NRA, target of much of the protesters' anger, posted a statement on its Facebook page accusing marchers of allowing themselves to be manipulated by opponents of the Second Amendment.
"Today's protests aren't spontaneous," the NRA said. "Gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites are manipulating and exploiting children as part of their plan to destroy the Second Amendment and strip us of our right to defend ourselves and our loved
