Thousands march in Tennessee cities in push for gun control

In Washington, the epicenter of the protests, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where the February 14 shooting took place, sought to galvanize support for the movement they started more than a month ago. A new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 69 percent of Americans think gun laws in the United States should be tightened.

Sophomore Gabe Glassman has been working with Youth Radio to report on the impact of the shooting on his friends and family. “And a lot of people say it’s because they didn’t have the voice and the articulation”.

Inside, the activism was already taking shape with a panel of the student journalists at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Actor George Clooney and his human rights attorney wife, Amal, donated $500,000 and said they would be at the Washington rally.

“Over 800 marches around the world – it’s just insane how much support this topic in politics right now is getting”, he says.

Samantha Fuentes, right, said, “I just threw up on global television, and it feels great!” Christine Mullan, an elementary school teacher at Warwick Community School in Warwick, Mass., said she has been teaching children “how to huddle in a corner in a corner during a lockdown” since the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that claimed the lives of 26 adults and children. “Bless you guys”, she said before leading a round of applause.

“Before this happened it was very easy; I was happy to get him off to school”. She added, “If they continue to ignore us, if they only pretend to listen, then we will take action where it counts”.

Gabe says it was hard to go back to school while processing so many emotions, but school officials made an effort to help.

“This will all have been worth it if we can make sure no more students are struck by bullets or PTSD”, she said.

With gun laws, I learn it bit by bit as I go. “It’s just a feeling that you can never really begin to explain”.

The L.A. march, which starts at 9 a.m.at Sixth and Spring streets in Downtown, is one of at least 50 such rallies being held across the country Saturday.

“The 49 who were taken from us and all of the survivors are in my heart today”, said Smith.

It is easy to suggest that restricting gun purchases will help, far more hard to get all of the various loopholes closed and ensure that constitutional rights are respected and preserved.

“Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the president’s”, said Walters, noting that on Friday the Justice Department proposed rule changes that would effectively ban “bump stock” devices that let semi-automatic weapons fire like a machine gun.

The nation is learning the names of these young survivors, these activists, these change makers: Emma and David and Cameron and Sarah. “That’s really going to make the biggest difference”, said Kaufman.

She was hospitalized for days and walked with a cane for weeks.

The first of more than 800 March For Our Lives events in Washington, D.C., the USA and around the world took place earlier today on the island of Pohnpei in the Pacific nation of Micronesia. “I’m marching for them, I’m marching for the students in Parkland”. Could you ever be prepared when your school, your home away from home, is under siege by some insane gunman who just seeks the thrill of randomly killing people in your classroom and school?