• Press Release

“This time will be different” — 300+ Local Marches Planned For June 11, more being planned

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Marches planned for Washington, D.C., New York City, Anchorage, Parkland, FL, Las Vegas, Oxford, MI, Sacramento, elsewhere. Students Huddle With Congressional Leaders To Demand Immediate Action 

Houston, TX — The horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas has once again reminded Americans that this gun violence epidemic leaves no one safe. In the five days since we announced the march, tens of thousands of students from across the country have stepped up to take action to demand that enough is enough. Over 300 marches, with more to come, are being planned by young people for Saturday, June 11 in cities including Washington, D.C., New York City, Anchorage, Parkland, Las Vegas, Oxford, Sacramento, and more. They will send a single message to local and national politicians: ”You are killing us with your inaction.”

Other Updates:

  • Student leaders have been meeting with members of Congress to press for immediate passage of legislation that will save lives. Universal Background Checks are the floor, not the ceiling, of the action we need to take and we’re calling for the Senate to pass a bill that does that. We are also lobbying for Ethan’s Law, which requires gun owners to safely store their firearms to prevent children from accessing them, and a package the House is considering that raises the age limit for some gun purchases, bans untraceable “ghost guns,” includes additional penalties for illegal “straw purchasers” of firearms, and limits purchases of weapons of war like assault weapons, among other proposals.

  • March For Our Lives Houston joined a massive protest in Houston right outside the NRA Annual Convention to call out their deadly hypocrisy and call them what they are: the gun violence lobby.

  • Voters are nearly united in support of Universal Background Checks (Morning Consult)

“We just got back from Texas, where we stood outside the NRA’s Annual Convention with thousands of young people so the NRA can see who’s going to put them out of business,” said David Hogg, Co-Founder of March For Our Lives. “Young people will lead the way, and we’re going to get gun safety laws passed. I’ve been having conversations with people from across the aisle, and it’s clear to me there’s more that unites us than divides us on this issue. Everyone wants to stop gun violence. We need to find where our common ground is and work from there. That’s what’s happening now, that’s why we’re going back to the streets on June 11th, and that’s what gives me hope.”

“People have asked me, is this time different? Do you have hope? The clear answer is yes,” said Zeenat Yahya, Director of Policy at March For Our Lives. “We already know that the American people are nearly unified in support of gun safety legislation. It’s time for our elected leaders to get behind us, and we’re seeing indications that they are, including Republicans. We’re ready to dial up the pressure and to show them that this is what the American people want and that we’re ready to have anyone that supports gun safety legislation in the movement. That’s why we’ll be back on the streets on June 11th.”

“We’re living on borrowed time before the next shooting,” said Daud Mumin, 20, co-chair of the board of March For Our Lives. “First Buffalo, now Uvalde. If we don’t take action people will die. Will it be you? Will it be your child? Every second we waste on inaction, our lives are in danger and people will die to gun violence. So we’re going back to the streets on June 11th to say this time will be different. Children and young people will lead the way, and our voices will be heard.”

TO JOIN A MARCH OR TO ORGANIZE ONE IN YOUR COMMUNITY, TEXT MARCH TO 954-954 OR VISIT marchforourlives.org/MARCH22

After a million of us marched in 2018, we saw historic changes to gun laws in state legislatures—over 150 pieces of state gun safety laws were passed, including tightening the requirements for purchasing firearms and raising the minimum age to own firearms in Florida; requiring universal background checks for firearm sales and enacting extreme risk protection orders in Virginia; and prohibiting firearms at election polling sites in Colorado. We registered hundreds of thousands of young voters, achieving 36% youth voter turnout in the 2018 midterms, the highest ever in a midterm election, and 50% youth voter turnout in the 2020 general election, including 100% voter turnout in the FL district that includes the University of Central Florida. We organized with communities to encourage states to invest in community violence intervention as a proven solution to reduce everyday shootings, and twelve states adopted this funding in 2021. We brought the NRA to its lowest favorability rating ever, and weakened it through legal action, resulting in an investigation by the New York Attorney General.

When we march, we make change. The failure of commonsense federal solutions to the gun violence epidemic rests squarely with Washington, where our leaders have refused to do their jobs and keep us alive. Young people and allies who support gun safety have done everything we’ve been asked to do to create change. If it takes mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Americans for Congress to budge on simple laws to stop mass death, we’re left with no other choice but to march.

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