March on Washington participants hold up signs of loved ones killed by gun violence. Photo credit: Josh Marks
More than a month after 20 children and six adults were gunned down in a Connecticut elementary school, thousands of Americans took to the streets of Washington, D.C. Saturday in support of President Obama’s gun safety proposals. Residents of Newtown, where the massacre took place, joined loved ones of gun violence victims and other citizens from across the country in a silent march down Constitution Avenue and a rally near the Washington Monument, where speakers demanded Congress take action on banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as universal background checks and other measures the administration supports.
The March on Washington for Gun Control was organized by Suzanne Blue Star Boy and Molly Smith. Speakers included Washington mayor Vincent Gray, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Education secretary Arne Duncan, Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Connecticut Against Gun Violence president Marty Isaac, One Million Moms for Gun Control founder Shannon Watts, Children’s Defense Fund president Marian Wright Edelman, Meghan DeSale of Doctors for America and others from the artistic and faith communities.
On the same day of the march, gun violence killed seven people and wounded six in Chicago. Among those murdered was a man whose mother had already lost three other children to gun violence.
“This is about gun responsibility; this is about gun safety; this is about fewer dead Americans, fewer dead children,” Duncan told the crowd.
Here are more photos from the event.
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Connecticut Against Gun Violence president Marty Isaac, left, and March on Washington for Gun Control co-organizer Molly Smith. Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
One Million Moms for Gun Control president Shannon Watts. Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Children’s Defense Fund president Marian Wright Edelman. Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard, left, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
March participants hold up signs with the names of people killed by gun violence. Photo credit: Josh Marks
Meghan DeSale, northeast regional director of Doctors for America, speaks at the March on Washington for Gun Control. Photo credit: Josh Marks
Dr. Delman Coates, senior pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland. Photo credit: Josh Marks
Photo credit: Josh Marks
Actress Kathleen Turner. Photo credit: Josh Marks
