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Gun Control Activists March Across The Brooklyn Bridge Demanding Action

Demonstrators raise posters as they march across the Brooklyn Bridge to call for tougher gun control laws on Saturday in New York.
John Minchillo
/
AP
Demonstrators raise posters as they march across the Brooklyn Bridge to call for tougher gun control laws on Saturday in New York.

Hundreds of activists marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, demanding reforms to the country's gun policies.

The march was organized by two groups — Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Everytown for Gun Safety — after a series of news-making mass shootings.

In a press release, Moms Demand Action says they want "common-sense" reform that includes closing loopholes that allow some gun buyers to skirt background checks.

The AP reports:

"About 1,000 activists gathered in downtown Brooklyn and are marching across the bridge to City Hall.

"They will then hold a demonstration outside the building's gates and chant 'Not one more.'

"That's the rallying cry uttered by Richard Martinez, whose son Christopher was shot to death in Santa Barbara, California, last month."

Among the protesters is Erica Lafferty, whose mother was gunned down during a rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The two groups at the center of the protests are partially funded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has become a prominent supporter of more stringent gun control.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.