More than 1,000 gun control advocates took to the streets of New York City, New York, on Saturday to protest that stricter laws need to be implemented. According to a report from The Associated Press , nearly 100 of the attendees were from Newtown, Connecticut, the area in which a gunman killed 20 elementary school students and six educators before taking his own life.
The demonstrators carried signs that called on Congress to do something about the gun control issue. Some were carrying photographs of loved ones they have lost to gun violence, and every single one chanted, “Not one more!” Those were the words said by Richard Martinez after his son, Christopher, was killed by a gunman in Isla Vista, California.
Netwon, Connecticut, resident Andrew Morosky has children whom were friends with some of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. He said he would like to see gun control laws “protect our children, not our gun lobbyists.”
“After what happened, I felt like I had to do something,” Morosky said. “I sat on the sidelines for too long.”
Moms Demand Action, Everytown For Gun Safety, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns were a few of the groups that helped organize the gun control rally. All of those groups are funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who did not attend the event.
The gun control advocates began their rally in downtown Brooklyn and made their way to the Brooklyn Bridge. Several of the demonstrators, which included actress Amanda Peet, urged the crowd to contact their elected officials and demand for stricter regulations.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said she and other elected officials “need to stop the madness.”
“Too many people have died, and too many lobbyists have lied,” Maloney said.
Those watching cheered, and drivers honked their horn to show approval of the group’s message as the gun control advocates made their way to City Hall, where the demonstration ended. There was one counter-protestor who occasionally interrupted to argue about the Second Amendment.
Since the Sandy Hook massacre, attempts in passing stricter gun control laws on a federal level have failed. However, some states have made their laws tougher, while others have eased back.
Earlier this week, The Inquisitr reported that another school shooting occurred . This time, it was at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon, a suburban area of Portland. President Obama issued a statement afterward, saying “the nation should be ashamed” about not being able to get Congress to pass tougher gun control laws.
“Our levels of gun violence are off the charts,” he added. “There’s no advanced, developed country on Earth that would put up with this.”
But Obama also upset some gun control advocates by saying that not much can be done until Americans change their views on gun rights, according to a report from The Christian Science Monitor .
“Until there is a fundamental shift in public opinion in which people say: ‘Enough, this is not acceptable, this is not normal, this isn’t, sort of, the price we should be paying for our freedom,’ sadly, not that much is going to change,” Obama said.
[Image credited to Todd Maisel via New York Daily News ]