Rally against gun violence

[Randy]

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/th...gun-violence-washington-across-us-2022-06-11/

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on Washington and at hundreds of rallies across the United States on Saturday to demand that lawmakers pass legislation aimed at curbing gun violence following last month's massacre at a Texas elementary school.

In the nation's capital, organizers with March for Our Lives (MFOL) estimated that 40,000 people assembled at the National Mall near the Washington Monument under occasional light rain. The gun safety group was founded by student survivors of the 2018 massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school.

Courtney Haggerty, a 41-year-old research librarian from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, traveled to Washington with her 10-year-old daughter, Cate, and 7-year-old son, Graeme.

Haggerty said the December 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when a gunman killed 26 people, mostly six- and seven-year-olds, came one day after her daughter's first birthday.

"It left me raw," she said. "I can't believe she's going to be 11, and we're still doing this."

Kay Klein, a 65-year-old teacher trainer from Fairfax, Virginia, who retired earlier this month, said Americans should vote out politicians who refuse to take action in November's midterm elections, when control of Congress will be at stake.

"If we truly care about children and about families, we need to vote," she said.

'ABSOLUTELY ABSURD'
A gunman in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 children and two teachers on May 24, 10 days after another gunman murdered 10 Black people in a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in a racist attack.

The shootings have added new urgency to the country's ongoing debate over gun violence, though the prospects for federal legislation remain uncertain given staunch Republican opposition to any limits on firearms.

In recent weeks, a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators have vowed to hammer out a deal, though they have yet to reach an agreement. Their effort is focused on relatively modest changes, such as incentivizing states to pass "red flag" laws that allow authorities to keep guns from individuals deemed dangerous.

U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat who earlier this month urged Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and implement other measures, said he supported Saturday's protests.

"We are being murdered," said X Gonzalez, a Parkland survivor and co-founder of MFOL, in an emotional speech alongside survivors of other mass shootings. "You, Congress, have done nothing to prevent it."

Among other policies, MFOL has called for an assault weapons ban, universal background checks for those trying to purchase guns and a national licensing system, which would register gun owners.

Biden told reporters in Los Angeles that he had spoken several times with Senator Chris Murphy, who is leading the Senate talks, and that negotiators remained "mildly optimistic."

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a sweeping set of gun safety measures, but the legislation has no chance of advancing in the Senate, where Republicans view gun limits as infringing upon the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Speakers at the Washington rally included David Hogg, a Parkland survivor and co-founder of MFOL; Becky Pringle and Randi Weingarten, the presidents of the two largest U.S. teachers unions; and Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C.

Two high school students from the Washington suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland - Zena Phillip, 16, and Blain Sirak, 15 - said they had never joined a protest before but felt motivated after the shooting in Texas.

"Just knowing that there's a possibility that can happen in my own school terrifies me," Phillip said. "A lot of kids are getting numb to this to the point they feel hopeless."

Sirak said she backed more gun restrictions and that the issue extended beyond mass shootings to the daily toll of gun violence.

"People are able to get military-grade guns in America," she said. "It's absolutely absurd."

 

[MrDawn]

It's the people behind the guns committing these terrible acts. Not the guns themselves. There's never going to be a world where people don't commit murder. That maybe these people protesting should be begging for more gun security in our schools and public areas. They should be begging for more crime control.

What they're asking for is to have law abiding citizens to get punished. We're the ones who obey gun laws and we're the ones those laws hurt the most.

Guns save lives to.

The criminals aren't going to give up their guns. They don't obey the gun laws we have now. They have access to ghost guns, stealing firearms, and other illegal ways to obtain them.

Taking away our guns is just asking for more trouble. The anti gun idealogy only goes so far until someone kicks in your door and comes after you. Then you wish you had one to deter them.

It's better to have a gun and not need it then need it and not have one.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

It's better to have a gun and not need it then need it and not have one.

I am not really a person who support guns but after the world has gone crazy these last 2 years, I'm thinking I might get one.

 

[MrDawn]

I am not really a person who support guns but after the world has gone crazy these last 2 years, I'm thinking I might get one.

It's better to have one. It gives me peace of mind. It acts as a deterrent. If someone you're enemies with knows you have one. It's less likely they'll come over and mess with you. I haven't touched either of my firearms in a year. I just have them in case someone comes in after me.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

It's better to have one. It gives me peace of mind. It acts as a deterrent. If someone you're enemies with knows you have one. It's less likely they'll come over and mess with you. I haven't touched either of my firearms in a year. I just have them in case someone comes in after me.

Don’t have any enemies but it probably would give me peace of mind.

 

[MrDawn]

Don’t have any enemies but it probably would give me peace of mind.

You bet. There's always a possibility that something could happen. It does help me sleep better because I feel safe. My step dad said that if someone breaks in, call 911, and lock & load. Fire a warning shot. If you end up shooting them in self defense, say they broke in and attacked you, if they don't buy it and start making suggestive allegations, plead the 5th amendment, and ask for a lawyer because part of the authorities' job is to see if it was murder.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

You bet. There's always a possibility that something could happen. It does help me sleep better because I feel safe. My step dad said that if someone breaks in, call 911, and lock & load. Fire a warning shot. If you end up shooting them in self defense, say they broke in and attacked you, if they don't buy it, plead the 5th amendment, and ask for a lawyer because part of the authorities' job is to see if it was murder.

crazy these days someone can break into YOUR house and then sue YOU when you injure them in self defense.

 

[MrDawn]

crazy these days someone can break into YOUR house and then sue YOU when you injure them in self defense.

Everyone I've talked to says shoot to kill because of that. I don't want to kill anyone, but I will do what I have to do to protect my family. I'm not going to allow someone to hurt them. That's why I'm pro 2nd Amendment. The idea of that happening terrifies me and I want to be ready if and when it happens.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Everyone I've talked to says shoot to kill because of that. I don't want to kill anyone, but I will do what I have to do to protect my family. I'm not going to allow someone to hurt them. That's why I'm pro 2nd Amendment. The idea of that happening terrifies me and I want to be ready if and when it happens.

I definitely don’t want to shoot to kill anyone. I just want to disable them until the police get here.

 

[MrDawn]

I definitely don’t want to shoot to kill anyone. I just want to disable them until the police get here.

You can buy rubber bullets for whatever type gun you buy online. That'll take them down.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

You can buy rubber bullets for whatever type gun you buy online. That'll take them down.

Sounds good. Right now I have zero ways of defending myself if someone breaks in. Unless I can run to the kitchen and grab a knife.

 

[MrDawn]

Sounds good. Right now I have zero ways of defending myself if someone breaks in. Unless I can run to the kitchen and grab a knife.

Before I bought mine after my divorce. I was wondering how effective a kitchen knife would be depending how many people broke in, how big or small, or if they're armed with a shotgun or whatever. Would you make it to the kitchen or would they get you in the hallway?

I saw a hatchet in Wal-Mart. Looked it over. Thought about buying it. Then I thought NO. Because if the guy is twice my size and catches my swing and disarms me, I'm pretty fucked. I need a real weapon. So I went to the local gun store in town and paid 350 for a used 9mm & 800 dollars for a new 45 Ruger.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

The wife always supported me having a gun for our protection but when she survived a mass shooter in 2018 she understood I couldn’t be there to protect her at all times and it just enforced her idea for self protection being a ABSOLUTE right. Any government that doesn’t allow it the people are either evil or misinformed.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

Before I bought mine after my divorce. I was wondering how effective a kitchen knife would be depending how many people broke in, how big or small, or if they're armed with a shotgun or whatever. Would you make it to the kitchen or would they get you in the hallway?

I saw a hatchet in Wal-Mart. Looked it over. Thought about buying it. Then I thought NO. Because if the guy is twice my size and catches my swing and disarms me, I'm pretty fucked. I need a real weapon. So I went to the local gun store in town and paid 350 for a used 9mm & 800 dollars for a new 45 Ruger.

Please, please go to the range and practice with it at least once a month. They also have dry fired systems you can use to practice in your own home.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

The wife always supported me having a gun for our protection but when she survived a mass shooter in 2018 she understood I couldn’t be there to protect her at all times and it just enforced her idea for self protection being a ABSOLUTE right. Any government that doesn’t allow it the people are either evil or misinformed.

What?!? Glad she survived!

 

[Webster]

It's the people behind the guns committing these terrible acts. Not the guns themselves.

The gun is but a tool; until you get rid of evil in the human heart, you will always have violence in this world.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

until you get rid of evil in the human heart

No possible.

 

[Webster]

No possible.

Exactly.