Thousands to rally in Washington, across US to protest gun violence

• The gun-control group March for Our Lives (MFOL) has announced that it will have more than 450 protests on Saturday.
• The organization’s 2018 march on Washington, held just weeks after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, drew hundreds of thousands of people.
• A gunman in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 children and two instructors.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to demonstrate in Washington DC, and across the country on Saturday, urging Congress to approve measures aimed at reducing gun violence, following last month’s massacre at a Texas elementary school.

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The organization’s 2018 march on Washington, held just weeks after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, drew hundreds of thousands of people to the nation’s capital to pressure Congress to act, despite Republican opposition preventing any new gun-control legislation from passing the US Senate.

As per organisers, this year’s gathering in Washington has a clear message for political leaders: your inaction is killing Americans.

In an e-mail message, Trevon Bosley, an MFOL board member, wrote, “We will no longer allow you to sit back while people continue to die.”

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The country’s ongoing debate about gun violence has taken on new urgency in the wake of the latest mass murders, yet the chances for federal legislation remain dubious.