Protesters across the country call for more gun control

Teenagers who favor greater gun control and their supporters rallied in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the country Saturday. The March for Our Lives was organized in response to recent school shootings, including the Feb. 14 tragedy in Parkland, Fla., where 17 people died in an attack by a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Saturday’s protesters used the occasion to denounce the National Rifle Association and to call on Congress to enact tighter gun laws. “If you listen real close, you can hear the people in power shaking,” David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland shooting and a student leader in the gun control movement, told the crowd in Washington. “We will get rid of these public servants who only care about the gun lobby.” Protesters chanted slogans like “Vote them out!” and “No more silence” as they gathered along Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and White House. They seek reforms that include tighter background checks and school security, raising the age to buy guns, and bans on high-capacity ammunition magazines and rifles like the AR-15 used in the Florida shooting. In Parkland, protesters gathered at a park near the school, where police presence was heavy.