Thousands of protesters in the US demand action against firearms

Thousands of people took to the streets in USA this Saturday to press for action against the devastating gun violence plaguing the country, where Republican politicians have repeatedly blocked efforts to enact tougher gun laws.

protesters of all ages headed for the National Mall in Washington, where activists placed more than 45,000 vases, one for each person killed by a gun. fire in USA during 2020.

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“Protect the people, not the weapons”, read one of the posters near the Washington monument. “Fear has no place in schools,” he read in another.

Two horrific shootings last month, one at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 children and two teachers; and another in a New York supermarket with a balance of 10 black people murdered, helped promote the demonstrations of the organization March For Our Lives (March for our lives).

The student-led collective founded by survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting held a rally that drew hundreds of Thousands of people in the capital in March 2018.

Four years later, the protest has been marked by frustration and lack of progress.

“It’s enough”, was heard several times from the lectern where Parkland survivor X Gonzalez and Martin Luther King Jr.’s granddaughter Yolanda King spoke.

“We are here to demand justice,” said Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother was killed in the racially motivated shooting at a Buffalo, New York supermarket on May 14.

“We are here to accompany those who are brave enough to demand awareness around the legislation of weapons”.

People take part in the March for Our Lives, one of a series of nationwide protests against gun violence, on the National Mall in Washington, DC, USA. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst /)

Widespread outrage, little change

The problem of weapons in USAwhich the group Gun Violence Archive says has cost the lives of more than 19,300 people so far this year, is more serious than high-profile massacres, with more than half of those deaths caused by suicide.

In addition to the one in Washington, hundreds of other nationwide rallies were scheduled for Saturday, including Parkland, where attendees carried messages like “Am I next?”

Thousands They also met in New York. In Brooklyn, white crosses were erected for the children killed in Uvalde and portraits of the Buffalo victims were installed in shopping carts.

Easy access to weapons of fire and mental health conditions that can lead to them being used in attacks are issues that have been in the spotlight with the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.

The shooting was carried out by a young man who bought two assault rifles shortly after his 18th birthday.

Advocates of regulation weapons They ask to tighten the restrictions or the total prohibition to acquire rifles. However, opponents have tried to associate mass murder as primarily a mental health issue, not a problem about weapons.

Gerald Mendes, a physical education teacher in Texas who joined the rally in New York, says he supports the US constitutional right to carry weapons but “ordinary citizens do not need those AR-15 (rifles) and weapons of war”.

Most Americans support laws on weapons tougher, but opposition from many congressional Republicans has made it difficult to achieve major changes.

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

“There is a reason why we are still in this situation,” he added.

“The fear we live every day”

Some legislators are trying to pass regulations to weapons.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed a sweeping package of proposals this week that included raising the purchase age from 18 to 21 for most semi-automatic rifles. However, the party does not have the 60-vote requirement to advance in the Senate.

A cross-party group of lawmakers has also been working on a tight patchwork of controls that could become the first serious attempt at regulatory reform in decades.

However, this does not include the prohibition of weapons assault or universal background checks, so it could fall short of President Joe Biden’s expectations.

Faith Barrett, a teacher who traveled to the rally with her daughter, also a teacher, expressed the frustration shared by many at the event.

“We are still in the same place,” the 47-year-old lamented, describing the hope of possible change as only “tentative.”

They both have plans ready in case a shooting happens at their school.

“Most teachers, in every classroom they go into, they think about how to get kids to safety if something happens,” Barrett said.

The specter of armed violence also hangs over the demonstration, where the police and security forces have a strong presence.

A moment of silence for the Uvalde victims was interrupted by a brief panic, when a disturbance near the stage caused several people to run in terror.

As the crowd quickly calmed down and the man who created the chaos was stopped without weapons in his power, according to the Police, some were left in the middle of the shock and crying.

Fred Guttenberg, the father of one of the Parkland victims, climbed to the lectern to calm the crowd.

“Unfortunately someone decided to show up and bring the fear that we live with every day of our lives.”

Source: Elcomercio