Hundreds of thousands of students and adults across the country took part in rallies and marches on Saturday, March 24 to fight for reductions in gun violence after the latest horrendous school shooting, this one in Parkland, Florida. It was a rare instance of a nationwide student-organized event and the first student mass protest of gun violence. In Washington, D.C. it was mostly students who spoke to over a half million protestors. The NRA released a statement, “Today’s protests aren’t spontaneous. Gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites are manipulating and exploiting children as part of their plan to DESTROY the Second Amendment and strip us of our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones.” (Variety, March 24, 2018, by Ted Johnson and Ricardo Lopez)
While President Donald Trump spent Saturday in Florida and at one of his golf clubs, a White House spokeswoman praised the students, “We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today. Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the President’s” and cited the Justice Department’s decision to ban bump stocks as evidence of Trump’s commitment to stem gun violence. (USA Today, March 24, 2018, by David Jackson)