march for our lives

Scenes From the March for Our Lives D.C. Rally

“I have been doing this since Parkland happened. I can’t believe we are still coming back.”

Photo: Shuran Huang
Demonstrators hold signs at the second March for our Lives rally.
Photo: Shuran Huang
Demonstrators hold signs at the second March for our Lives rally.
Photo: Shuran Huang

On Saturday, thousands flooded the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to protest for stronger gun-control laws. The March for Our Lives demonstration, which came in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist killed ten people at a supermarket, and in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers with a legally obtained AR-15, was one of 45 rallies across the country. Demonstrators held up signs reading “Why Do Guns Have More Rights Than My Vagina?” and “Brought to You By the Pro-Life Party.”  One woman dressed as the Grim Reaper thanked the National Rifle Association “for the assist.” Children rallied too: A boy held a sign reading “21 Lives Lost. That Could Be Me!” 

March for Our Lives demonstrations began in 2018, spearheaded by a group of teenagers who had survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The survivors organized a march in D.C. that drew an estimated 800,000 attendees with additional rallies taking place in over 800 cities around the world. Four years later, protesters were exasperated that they are still marching for gun reform. Hannah Sohn, a 34-year-old public-high-school teacher in Germantown, Maryland, remembers conversations she had as a student after the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999. “I don’t think it’s fair for my students to feel scared about coming to school,” says Sohn, adding that she’s at a loss for words when her students seek comfort and reassurance about their safety.

Jamie Parker, 44, said she was enraged by Congress’s inability to act. “When 19 kids died for no reason, I don’t understand how politicians can just sit around and do nothing about that,” said Parker, who carried a sign reading “Make This The Last Timeand attended Saturday’s rally with her 13-year-old daughter, Presley. “That makes me so incensed and angry. I have been doing this since Parkland happened. We were at the original March for Our Lives, and I can’t believe we are still here. I can’t believe we are still coming back, doing this.” This time around, perhaps the ralliers will get something from lawmakers: On Sunday, Senate negotiators announced they had reached a tentative bipartisan deal on gun safety. The measures, which have yet to be finalized and include red-flag laws and enhanced background checks, are a modest step forward — but better than taking no steps at all.

Protester Hannah Sohn, 34, of Germantown, Maryland, at the second March for Our Lives rally near the Washington Monument on June 11. Photo: Shuran Huang
Rebecca S. Pringle, president of the National Education Association and an advocate for gun-safety legislation, makes a speech during the rally. Photo: Shuran Huang
Protester Sheila Carr, 65, of Washington, D.C., said, “You need to regulate the guns, the Second Amendment says — a well-regulated militia. That’s the first part of the Second Amendment. The gun people always talk about the second part.” Photo: Shuran Huang
Protester Christal Surowicc, 58, of Cheverly, Maryland, said, “You don’t see this in other westernized countries. And because of the irresponsibility of some of our legislative officials and the influence of the NRA, the influence of other big-money sources that continue to let these things go unregulated, they are doing nothing; they just don’t care. They just want to sell guns.” Photo: Shuran Huang
From left: Protesters Presley Parker, 13, and her mother, Jamie, 44, from the Philadelphia area. Photo: Shuran Huang
Photo: Shuran Huang
Protester Kathleen Gabriel, 58, of Arlington Heights, Illinois, said, “I felt that we tend to remember the schools or the places where these mass shootings have occurred. I wanted it to be known that I also honor those individuals. So actually writing their names on a piece of fabric and their age and, you know, tangible proof that they lived, that they had a life, they had families, they deserved a future. And it was all denied because of a gun. I just want to honor all these individuals.” Photo: Shuran Huang
Demonstrators at the second March for our Lives hold up signs that read
Demonstrators at the second March for our Lives hold up signs.
Photos: Shuran Huang.
Photos: Shuran Huang.
Gaby Salazar, 26, the national organizing director of March for Our Lives. Photo: Shuran Huang
Protester Starsky Wilson, 45, embracing his son, Mason, 12, said, “I am holding my son so tight because in the middle of the protest, when someone held up an anti-gun-control sign, the energy around that made him really emotional. I wanted to hold him, wanted to protect him and let him feel safe.” Photo: Shuran Huang
Protester Maureen Cohen Harrington, 54, of Washington, D.C. Photo: Shuran Huang
A protester holds a sign reading
Two cellphones sit in a demonstrator's lap at the second March for our Lives rally.
Photos: Shuran Huang.
Photos: Shuran Huang.
Protesters Shefa Ahsan (right), 25, originally from India, and her younger sister, Maysa, 11. “I also have my mother, who is a teacher,” said Shefa. “She has been teaching all her life. My sister is in elementary school, and just the thought of any of these events happening to them is terrifying.” Photo: Shuran Huang
Protester Kit Mateer, 20, from Maryland. Photo: Shuran Huang
A man wears an American flag bandanna over his face at the second March for our Lives rally.
Demonstrators at the second March for our Lives rally.
Photos: Shuran Huang.
Photos: Shuran Huang.
Photo: Shuran Huang
Protesters Brandon Farbstein, 22, a motivational speaker and an author, and his mother, Sylvia, 55. “By being here, I just want to send the message that we as young people are not going to wait,” said Brandon. “We’re not going to be just taking an idle seat while there is so much hate in the world.” Photo: Shuran Huang
Photo: Shuran Huang
Scenes From the March for Our Lives D.C. Rally