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Thousands of people are expected to rally in the nation’s capital and across the country on Saturday during the second March for Our Lives rally.
After a wave of even more mass shootings in recent weeks, including in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, protesters are calling for lawmakers to take action – and they’re not the only ones.
On Saturday, President Biden tweeted about the demonstration, directing his words at Congress.
“Today, young people around the country once again march with @AMarch4OurLives to call on Congress to pass commonsense gun safety legislation supported by the majority of Americans and gun owners. I join them by repeating my call to Congress: do something,” he wrote.
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People participate in the second March for Our Lives rally in support of gun control in front of the Washington Monument, Saturday, June 11, 2022, in Washington. The rally is a successor to the 2018 march organized by student protestors after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla.
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Specifically, the president said, Congress needs to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, enact safe storage laws and red flags and repeal gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.
“We can’t fail the American people again,” he urged.
Previous polling has shown that the majority of Americans support additional background checks for gun purchases.
In a Quinnipiac University poll, conducted last week and published on Tuesday, 50% percent of registered voters support a nationwide ban on semi-automatic long guns compared to 45% who oppose it.
In Washington, D.C., the afternoon rally is expected to draw a crowd of around 50,000 to the Washington Monument – far less than the 2018 march, which tallied 200,000 participants.
People attend in the second March for Our Lives rally in support of gun control Saturday, June 11, 2022, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Featured speaks include March for Our Lives co-founders and Parkland, Fla., shooting survivors David Hogg and X Gonzalez, Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Yolanda King, the granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr.
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This time, organizers have focused holding smaller marches at an estimated 300 locations, including cities in Nebraska, Iowa, California, Connecticut, Michigan and Florida.
There are also some scheduled in Europe.
The initial march and youth-led movement were spurred by the deadly Feb. 14, 2018, shooting massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“After marching in 2018, states passed over 150 gun laws that saved thousands of lives. Today, we DEMAND a national change. And tell our elected officials: YOUR INACTION IS KILLING US,” the organization tweeted.
While the House of Representatives has passed bills that would raise the age limit to buy semi-automatic weapons and establish federal “red flag” laws, such initiatives had traditionally either stalled or been heavily watered down in the Senate.
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Democratic and Republican senators had hoped to reach an agreement on the issue this week and talked on Friday, but had not announced an accord by early evening.
There have been more mass shootings than days in 2022, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
Fox News’ Timothy Nerozzi, Andrew Mark Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
