Demo for stricter gun laws: “March for Our Lives” in the USA

Thousands of people have demonstrated in the United States for stricter gun control laws and against violence. In light of the recent massacre at a Texas elementary school, they are calling on Congress in Washington to tighten gun laws.

Two and a half weeks after the massacre at a Texas elementary school, numerous people across the United States demonstrated for stricter gun laws. At the central rally in the US capital Washington alone, thousands of people took part in the “March for Our Lives”. The demonstrators carried signs in the air that read “Thoughts and prayers are not enough,” “Protect children, not guns,” and “Enough is enough.”

On May 24, an 18-year-old shot dead 19 children and two teachers with an assault rifle in an elementary school in the small Texas town of Uvalde. The March for Our Lives initiative was founded after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. There, in February 2018, a 19-year-old gunman shot 14 teenagers and three adults and injured other people.

Call for a nationwide school strike

Manuel Oliver, who lost his son in the Parkland massacre, spoke at the rally in Washington. Oliver called on students to stay away from class to increase pressure on politicians to pass tougher gun laws. “We are calling for a nationwide strike by American students at all levels of education,” he said. Oliver called on US President Joe Biden to create an Office for the Prevention of Gun Violence in the White House.

Biden pledged his support to the protesters on the sidelines of a visit to Los Angeles. With a view to the congressional elections in November, the Democrat demanded that stricter gun laws should be a decisive criterion for voters. Biden again urged Congress to enact stricter regulations and ban assault rifles. “We must not let the American people down again.” Stricter gun laws have long been thwarted by opposition from Republicans in Congress.