Aug. 5 (UPI) — To honor and remember victims of gun violence and continue a call to action for stricter gun regulations, activists from March for Our Lives rallied Saturday outside the National Rifle Association’s headquarters in Northern Virginia.
Organizers of the “National March on the NRA,” included survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., a tragedy that led to the deaths of 17 students and faculty members and sparked a nationwide gun violence movement among young people.
Protesters at the rally want a ban on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, comprehensive background checks for gun sales, tighter restrictions on downloadable weapons and also called on the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the NRA’s tax-exempt status.
The event also honored Joaquin Oliver, one of the Parkland victims known as Guac, who would have turned 18 Saturday.
David Hogg, one of the most vocal Parkland students, called for donations in Guac’s honor to Change The Ref (CTR), a nonprofit organization created by Guac’s parents, Manuel and Patricia Oliver, that gives youths tools needed to be empowered to make changes to critical issues.
Hogg also urged people to vote, tweeting, “People call us snowflakes. What happens when all the snowflakes vote? That’s called an avalanche.”
During Saturday’s rally, demonstrators held signs condemning the NRA and sang an altered version of “America The Beautiful.”
The Virginia rally is part of a March for Our Lives nationwide bus tour called “Road for Change,” to advocate for gun regulation and get more registered voters ahead of the November midterm elections. The student’s next stop will be Washington D.C. on Sunday.
