Post date: Jan 21, 2013 8:44:41 PM
A group called One Million Moms for Gun Control led a rally across the Brooklyn Bridge, urging the U.S. government to enact tougher gun legislation.
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 21, 2013) (REUTERS) - Several hundred people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Monday (January 21) to call on the U.S. Congress to pass tougher gun control legislation.
The group said the march purposefully coincided with the inauguration and Martin Luther King's remembrance day, as they hoped tougher gun laws would be a priority for President Obama.As families marched across the bridge, children held up signs and chanted for gun control along with their parents.
Thirteen year old Kate Godsil Freeman said she doesn't want to live in a society where she fears guns.
"Children shouldn't worry about guns. We should have a nation that doesn't have to depend on guns and firearms to protect ourselves. We should just know that we're safe," Godsil Freeman said.
Mary Priest, a mother of three, said she hoped the government would hear the voice of mother's across the nation.
"Listen to the voices of moms and not to the lobby of the gun industry and to try to protect our lives and value the lives above what is an industry voice and not the voice of people."
Parents said they were deeply affected by the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut last month and that the time has come to take action.
"We need to get tougher on our gun control laws and make sure that there are background checks because there are mentally ill people just going willy nilly and buying all these guns and nobody knows what they were doing with them," said Karen Brown, a mother of two from Brooklyn.
The march, organized by a group called One Million Moms for Gun Control, ended at City Hall with a rally.
Shannon Watts, the founder of One Million Moms For Gun Control, said that she hopes the U.S. Congress will follow New York state's lead and ban assault weapons.
"Sandy Hook was a tipping point because six and seven year old babies were shot eleven times each in a school that should have been safe. A bell has been rung and you're not going to be able to unring that bell. We are in this for the long haul and demand changes for stronger, tighter gun laws across the country at both the federal and state levels."
Watts, a mother of five, founded the group after the Connecticut mass shooting with the help of social media