2018 and 2022 student-led demonstration in Washington, DC
March for Our Lives (MFOL) is a student-led organization which leads demonstrations in support of gun control legislation. The first demonstration took place in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018, with over 880 sibling events throughout the United States and around the world, and was planned by Never Again MSD in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety. The event followed the Parkland high school shooting a month earlier, which was described by several media outlets as a possible tipping point for gun control legislation.
Protesters urged for universal background checks on all gun sales, closing of the gun show loophole, a restoration of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and a ban on the sale of high-capacity magazines and bump stocks in the United States. Turnout was estimated to be between 1.2 and 2 million people in the United States, making it one of the largest protests in American history.
After the Robb Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas, MFOL Action Fund organized another nationwide protest on June 11, 2022. The main protest took place in Washington, D.C., with hundreds of sibling events taking place across the United States.
Planning.
Cameron Kasky, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and his classmates, announced the march on February 18, four days after the shooting at the school. Also joining the march efforts were Alex Wind of Stoneman Douglas High School, who along with four friends created the "Never Again" campaign. X González and David Hogg, also survivors of the shooting, have been vocal supporters of the march.
The date was chosen in order to give students, families and others a chance to mourn first, and then on March 24, talk about gun control. Organizers filed a permit application with the National Park Service during the week of February 23, and expected as many as 500,000 people to attend. However, the National Mall, which was the planned site of the main march in Washington, D.C., was reportedly already booked for March 24; the application, filed by an unidentified local student group, claimed it was for a talent show. A permit was later obtained for Pennsylvania Avenue. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced it would operate extra trains for the march.
The Enough! National School Walkout was held on the one month anniversary of the Stoneman Douglas shooting. It involved students walking out from their classes for exactly 17 minutes (one for each of the victims of the massacre) and involved more than 3,000 schools across the United States and nearly one million students. Thousands of students also gathered and staged a rally in Washington, D.C., after observing 17 minutes of silence with their backs to the White House. After the success of the walkout, Hogg posted a tweet that included a provocative, NRA-style advertisement calling out lawmakers for their inaction on or opposition to gun control efforts, asking "What if our politicians weren't the bitch of the NRA?", and ending with a promotion for the upcoming March.
Celebrity and corporate support.
George Clooney and Scooter Braun were major forces behind the organization of the march, and aided in fundraising efforts behind the scenes. Amal and George Clooney donated $500,000 to support the march and announced they would attend. Oprah Winfrey matched the Clooney donation to support the march. Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife Marilyn also contributed $500,000. Film director and producer Steven Spielberg and actress Kate Capshaw Spielberg donated $500,000, also matching the donation of the Clooneys. On February 23, Gucci announced they were also donating $500,000 towards the march. Other people and organizations offering support have included Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Gabby Giffords, Lauren Jauregui, Alyssa Milano, Moms Demand Action, Amy Schumer, St. Vincent, Harry Styles, Hayley Williams, Paul McCartney, Kanye West, and Kim Kardashian. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen donated $25,000. Jimmy Fallon pledged to attend an event with his family. Samantha Bee interviewed kids. Jim Jefferies interviewed participants in San Diego. Other celebrities including Taylor Swift have donated an undisclosed amount of money toward the campaign. Justin Timberlake, Will Smith, Cher and Amy Poehler also participated in the march.
James Corden promoted the March for Our Lives event. John Zimmer and Logan Green, the co-founders of Lyft, announced their support of the rallies and stated that their company would provide free rides for those attending demonstrations. Dating app Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd subsequently announced that they were supporting the NeverAgain movement by banning all images of firearms on their dating application.
John Cena and Millie Bobby Brown applauded the March for Our Lives event at the Kids Choice Awards.
The founding members of MFOL were awarded "Smithsonian" magazine's 2018 American Ingenuity Award in the Youth category.
In Washington, D.C., a prayer and vigil was held at the Washington National Cathedral on the eve of the rally, as a memorial for the victims of gun violence, and to declare the church's belief, "This work is rooted in our commitment to Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves... We gather out of a conviction that the right to bear arms does not trump the right to life."
The litany also included the following refrain:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;From so many heartbreaks comes forth a united commitment to go into the streets of our cities and towns and promote a way of peace and well-being for all people. With compassion sown from the threads of sadness and terror, we will mend a nation tattered by gun violence and weave a new cloth of hope and peace.
Guest speakers included Philip and April Schentrup, parents of 16-year-old Carmen Schentrup, who was killed in the shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Participation.
March for Our Lives was among the biggest youth-led protests since the Vietnam War era. Estimates of participation at the main event in Washington, D.C., range from 200,000 to 800,000.
The speakers—all of whom were high schoolers or younger—included Marjory Stoneman Douglas students Cameron Kasky, David Hogg, Delaney Tarr, Sarah Chadwick, Alex Wind, Jaclyn Corin, Ryan Deitsch, Aalayah Eastmond, Samantha Fuentes, and X González. Hunter Pollack, brother of victim Meadow, was scheduled to speak, but did not attend due to a logistical issue, which he contended was a result of being misled by event officials. David Hogg tweeted out a video of Hunter's speech from a later event.
Other participants included Naomi Wadler, who is an elementary school student in Alexandria, Virginia, Trevon Bosley from Chicago whose brother was shot and killed leaving church, Edna Lizbeth Chávez, a high school student from Los Angeles, and Zion Kelly, whose twin brother was shot and killed during an armed robbery. Yolanda Renee King, granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr., also made an appearance along with Mya Middleton, a student from Chicago representing After School Matters, Matt Post, a senior from Montgomery County, Christopher Underwood, an 11-year old from New York, Alex King and D'Angelo McDade from Chicago, and Matthew Soto, brother of Sandy Hook victim Victoria Soto, and Parkland parents Lori Alhadeff, who lost her daughter Alyssa in the school incident and Manuel &amp; Patricia Oliver, whose lost their son Joaquin and launched a campaign titled "Change The Ref" to honor their son and push for new restrictions on any form of weapon violence.
González, after speaking and naming the seventeen victims, stood silent for over four minutes, after which a cellphone alarm went off and they announced the six minute and twenty second point in their speech, equal to the length of the Parkland shooting. González ended their speech saying,
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;Since the time that I came out here, it has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest. Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job.
then walked off stage as the entire crowd along Pennsylvania Avenue applauded loudly. Their speech and emotional moment of silence was praised by media organizations as one of the "most memorable" and "powerful" moments in the day's events.
Singers Ariana Grande, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Hudson, Andra Day, Common, Demi Lovato and Vic Mensa joined student-led marchers in Washington, D.C.
Throughout the nation, other participators who took to the stage or in the crowd in D.C. included Kanye West &amp; Kim Kardashian, George &amp; Amal Clooney, Glenn Close, Cher, Miley Cyrus' sister Noah, Steven Spielberg, Julianne Moore, and Lauren Jauregui of Fifth Harmony in D.C. as well as Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords, who survived weapon violence in the 2011 Tucson shooting and marching and paying tribute for the six victims who died at her Congressional Rally back then in 2011.
Celebs who took part in the rally in Los Angeles included Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon, Olivia Wilde with Jason Sudeikis, Mason Cook, Jaden &amp; Willow Smith, Yara Shahidi, Meg Donnelly, Roots Drummer Questlove, Amy Schumer, Lady Gaga, Charlie Puth, Mae Whitman, Connie Britton, Rita Ora, Ta'Rhonda Jones, Miles Heizer, Kendall &amp; Kylie Jenner, Hailey Baldwin, Leona Lewis, Anjelica Huston, and singer and music executive Diane Warren along with city's mayor Eric Garcetti and Senator Kamala Harris.
During the rally in Miami Beach, musicians Flo Rida and Gloria &amp; Emilio Estefan's daughter Emily took part in a Miami Beach rally with Mayor Dan Gelber.
Actor Matthew McConaughey took part in the march in Austin, Texas, and other singer-songwriters included Paul Simon, who performed "Sound of Silence" in Stamford, Connecticut, and Brandi Carlile who sung "Hold Out Your Hand", following the release of her sixth studio album "By the Way, I Forgive You", which was released two days after the Parkland tragedy. (The song later became a music video on June 1, 2018, showing montage recap clips of protestors being guided by officers on motorcycle while Brandi is blending in with the crowd and is later seen performing on the front lawn of the Seattle Center.)
Politicians included Andrew Yang, who took part in Annapolis along with Mayor Gavin Buckley, Maryland, Nashville Mayor David Briley, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Georgia Congressman John Lewis (who took part in Atlanta and paid tribute for his colleague Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Fitzgerald and Robert Francis Kennedy, all of whom died from weapon violence), Representative Joseph Kennedy III in the event in Boston, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who snapped a few selfies during a march in Springfield, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo during the New York City event along with Mayor Bill De Blasio and Black Lives Matter President, Hawk Newsome as well as TV Host Nick Cannon.
Other advocates/activists included Malala Yousafzai, who gave a warm introduction via a video monitor during the Washington March.
Responses.
National Rifle Association.
On March 21, NRATV host Grant Stinchfield stated that "March for Our Lives is backed by radicals with a history of violent threats, language and actions"; fact-checker PolitiFact has rated this statement as being "without merit" and "Pants on Fire" indicating that it is a "ridiculous claim".
While the march was occurring, the NRA posted a membership drive video on their Facebook page, declaring that the "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". Another video dubbed "A March for Their Lies" was uploaded to YouTube featuring Colion Noir, in which he described the planned rally as a "carnival of a march". Noir also said in the video that there is an "agenda that's a million times bigger than the guns".
Politicians.
"The Washington Post" reported that there were many Democrats encouraging the marchers, and many of them, including candidates for office, participated from the sidelines in the march, but few Republicans did similarly. The White House said in a response that they "applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their first amendment rights."
On the day of the protests, Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio responded by stating: "However, many other Americans do not support a gun ban" and "view banning guns as an infringement on the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens that ultimately will not prevent these tragedies." He called for protesters to find "common ground with those who hold opposing views" for change to happen. However, a blanket gun ban was not called for by the protests.
Former Republican senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum criticized the Parkland activists, suggesting during an interview with CNN that