MINNEAPOLIS — Hundreds gathered in downtown Minneapolis Saturday morning as part of a nationwide demonstration urging Congress to act following several deadly mass shootings across the country.
The protest was one of many "March For Our Lives" events Saturday throughout the nation as part of a renewed push for gun control measures.
Survivors of mass shootings and other incidents of gun violence have lobbied legislators and testified on Capitol Hill this week. Among them was Miah Cerrillo, an 11-year-old girl who survived the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. She told lawmakers how she covered herself with a dead classmate’s blood to avoid being shot.
"I'm a high school student," said Indigo, who was among the hundreds in Minneapolis calling for change. "A lot of people in my family are also students or teachers, and knowing that there's a chance that someone could bring a gun into a school and do serious harm to my family or to me or to my friends is something that I can't live with."
"March For Our Lives" was founded by survivors of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people. The Minnesota chapter says now is the time for lawmakers to take action to curb gun violence.
"This has to be something we change and is long-lasting, or else this is just going to be another blip on the screen — another mass shooting that we forget about in a month or two, and I don't want that to happen," said Hannah.
While in California, President Joe Biden said his message to the demonstrators was to “keep marching,” adding that he was “mildly optimistic” about legislative negotiations to address gun violence. Biden recently delivered an impassioned address to the nation in which he called for several steps, including raising the age limit for buying assault-style weapons.
The House has passed bills that would raise the age limit to buy semi-automatic weapons and establish federal “red flag” laws. But such initiatives have traditionally stalled or been heavily watered down in the Senate. Democratic and Republican senators had hoped to reach agreement this week on a framework for addressing the issue and talked Friday, but they had not announced an accord by early evening.
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