March For Our Lives: 11 June protests in Washington DC and other major US cities
The nation-wide protests against gun violence began in 2018 and aim to put pressure on lawmakers to enact serious change in gun control laws.
March For Our Lives, the annual protest against gun violence, is taking place across the country on Saturday, 11 June. The main event will take place in Washington DC but there will similar demonstrations in all parts of the United States.
In recent weeks a number of tragic mass shootings have put the issue of gun control at the top of the agenda and activists will be hoping to push Congress into action.
Where is the nearest March For Our Lives event?
As mentioned the main march will take place at the Washington Monument in Washington DC. The event is due to begin at 12 noon (ET) and will follow the route of the first March For Our Lives in 2018. This protest in the very heart of American democracy aims to pile pressure on lawmakers to pass legislation ensuring that such massacres are less likely to happen in future.
However for those who can’t make it to the capital there are countless local marches taking place across the weekend. Since 2018 there have been hundreds of like-minded activism groups hosting similar events in their local communities.
If you’re not sure where to go, the March For Our Lives website has a handy map of upcoming marches so you can see where they are located. Simply submit your postcode and it will locate the nearest protests.
What is the history of March For Our Lives?
The story begin in Parkland, Florida in 2018 when a tragic shooting spree at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 people dead. It remains the deadliest high school shooting in American history and sparked renewed debate around gun control.
A mission statement from March For Our Lives reads: “We cannot allow one more person to be killed by senseless gun violence. We cannot allow one more person to experience the pain of losing a loved one.”
It continues: “We cannot allow the normalization of gun violence to continue. We must create a safe and compassionate nation for all of us.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting the organisation organised the largest single day of protest against gun violence. Millions of people attended events across the country, many of whom carried placards reading ‘Road To Change’.
A related organisation, Mayors For Our Lives, holds voter registration days to encourage prospective voters to sign up. In cooperation with a group of more than 200 mayors the organisation helped register around 800,000 on National Voter Registration Day in 2018. The organisation claims that the influx of new young people in the electorate helped ensure that “a record 46 NRA-backed candidates lost their elections that November.”