Thousands demonstrate against gun violence in US

This weekend, thousands of people in hundreds of cities across the US, and some in Canada and Europe, demonstrated against gun violence.

The largest gathering took place on Saturday in Washington, DC, where politicians, civil rights leaders, teachers, students and gun safety advocates gave speeches on a rainy day on Capitol Hill to a crowd of around 40,000 about personal trauma from gun violence and the importance of federal regulations of guns.

Congresswoman Cori Bush of Missouri shared her own personal experience of surviving gun violence while in an abusive relationship. She said that one day, as she was running away from her partner, he fired shots at her, an experience that continues to stay with her. She believes a red flag law or a background check could have helped prevent her near-death experience.

“I want those members of Congress who are complicit in every mass shooting that happens because of their own perpetuation of policy violence, I want them to know those of us who are gun violence survivors, who will not let up until change happens, we are everywhere,” Bush told a crowd of thousands.

The demonstrations, which mainly took place on Saturday, were organised by the student-led anti-gun violence group March for Our Lives, which formed in the wake of the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida. This weekend’s gatherings came on the heels of last month’s mass shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York and at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

According to the research organisation Gun Violence Archive, there are approximately 385 mass shootings in the United States per year, defined as having at least four victims. No other country comes close to having these numbers.

Mass shootings account for only a small proportion of gun deaths in the US, which number around 15,000 per year, mainly affecting lower income individuals.

“The demonstrations across the country were looking really incredible. It was very emotional,” Elena Perez, a New Jersey-based policy associate with March for Our Lives, told The New Arab.

“One of the things I was looking at was a group of younger kids, no older than 10 years old, holding a sign. They’re this young and they know how huge an issue gun violence is,” said Perez, who has spent the past couple of weeks meeting with policymakers in Washington, DC.

She is grateful for the support of Congresswoman Bush, who recently met with activists to discuss gun regulation.

“She helps lead the conversation. She has really made our meetings feel comfortable,” said Perez. “She really resonated with the crowd. She’s an organiser, she’s a survivor. She understands more than anyone.”

Though gun violence has been a long-time, seemingly intractable, problem in the US, some advocates are hopeful that this time will be different.

“This time feels different,” she said. “Sitting down and looking at who’s coming out, standing in solidarity, finding common ground. There are people who decided to say: let me open my eyes.”