Thousands expected at March For Our Lives rally Saturday in Washington, D.C.
MIAMI - Spurred by the recent surge in mass shootings, tens of thousands of people are expected at rallies this weekend demanding that Congress pass meaningful changes to gun laws.
The second March For Our Lives rally will take place Saturday in front of the Washington Monument, in Washington D.C., a successor to the 2018 march organized by student protestors after the mass shooting in a parkland that claimed 17 lives.
Now with recent shootings from Uvalde, Texas, to Buffalo, and New York, bringing gun control back into the national conversation, organizers of this weekend's events say the time is right to renew their push for a national overhaul.
Rallies are planned at several cities around the country including South Florida
"We will show the country is screaming for justice," said Patricia Oliver.
Oliver lost her son Joaquin in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre.
She has been frustrated with the lack of legislation to protect children from gun violence.
"Where are your morals? You aren't working for the people, and we are tired of that" she said.
About 50,000 participants are predicted to turn out in the District of Columbia, with rain in the forecast.
That's far less than the original march, which filled downtown Washington with more than 200,000 people.
This time, organizers are focusing on holding smaller marches at an estimated 300 locations.
"We want to make sure that this work is happening across the country," said Daud Mumin, co-chairman of the march's board of directors and a recent graduate of Westminster College in Salt Lake City.
"This work is not just about D.C., it's not just about senators."
The protest comes at a time of renewed political activity on guns and a crucial moment for possible action in Congress.
Survivors of mass shootings and other incidents of gun violence have lobbied legislators and testified on Capitol Hill this week
David Hogg, the co-founder of the March movement, was among the group meeting with lawmakers
"We know what we disagree on. Let's focus on what we can agree on. Even if it's small actions" he said.
The March for Our Lives movement was born out of the massacre when 14 students and three staff members were gunned down on Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Surviving students organized bus trips to the state capital to lobby in person, and they succeeded in pressuring the Republican-dominated state government to buck the National Rifle Association's influence and pass substantial measures targeting gun violence.
