Gun control advocates march as nation reels from school shootings

Washington -- Thousands of demonstrators rallied Saturday in Washington to demand tougher gun control laws, many describing themselves as first-time capital marchers who've had enough of gun violence.

On a cold day, a vanguard led a blocks-long procession with a big blue banner, declaring "March on Washington for Gun Control: When we stand together, we stand a chance."

The demonstrators want reinstatement of the federal ban on the sale of military-style semi-automatic rifles such as the one used in the recent Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead, plus the gunman and his mother. The protestors also want a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines and universal background checks.

Many marchers just carried black-and-white placards bearing the names of victims of gun violence, such as Veronica Soto, a Newtown teacher who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre.Co-organizer Molly Smith highlighted how many demonstrators were ordinary citizens, the organization of whom was assisted by a webpage and Facebook page.

"It's been a remarkable learning experience," Smith told CNN, "the realization that we're citizens and this is an active citizenship, and being a citizen isn't just sitting around and gassing about it."

The march was the first major demonstration since the Newtown mass shooting last month, and it comes two days after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, introduced a bill that would ban some assault rifles, semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told an assembly of marchers, after they reached their rallying area midway between the White House and the Capitol, that Saturday's demonstration wasn't about the Second Amendment.

"This is about gun responsibility; this is about gun safety; this is about fewer dead Americans, fewer dead children," Duncan told the crowd.

Opinion: In gun control debate, logic goes out the window

He recalled that as the former chief of Chicago Public Schools, he oversaw a system in a city where a student was killed by gun violence every two weeks.

"Far too many of our children are growing up in climates where they are scared," Duncan said. "That has to change."

He added, "This march is a starting point. It's not an ending point. We must act, we must act, we must act."

U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-District of Columbia, asked residents of Newtown, Connecticut, to make themselves known in the crowd.

'We came to stand with you and bear witness with you until we vindicate your children and those who died with them," Norton said.

She urged the assembly to press for gun reform.

The demonstrators started chanting: "Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!"

Without mentioning the National Rifle Association, Norton made a reference to the powerful gun lobby, saying, "It comes down to us because we are immune to their lobbying.

NRA chief: Obama makes 'mockery' of American freedoms

"Only an outraged public can end the gun violence that has enveloped our country," she added. "We the people who did not act before, we the people this time will step forward.

"And this time we will not step back."

Colin Goddard survived being shot four times during the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, one that left 33 people dead, including the gunman, who took his own life.

Goddard, one of the rally speakers, said he was shot above the knee, twice in the hip and once in the shoulder.

"I consider myself one of the lucky ones," he told the gathering.

Then, speaking of subsequent school shootings across the nation, he added: "I kept seeing what happened to me happen to other people."

Goddard now works for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence as assistant director for victims advocacy and federal litigation.

One marcher, Lori Bennett, said she wants to make a difference.

"My two older children, of course, are very aware of what's going on and I said, 'I'm going down there, you know, for you, for us, and to make a difference," she said. "Without sounding corny, but I mean, it's just piggybacking on the sentiment of the politicians that are in favor of all this change.

"People as a country, like, we can't keep waiting for all the politicians to make a move," she added.

A small opposing demonstration was held across the street from the gun control advocates' staging area near the Capitol. One gun rights advocate said he thinks people in schools should be armed -- a viewpoint he developed after the Newtown shooting.

"I could not figure out why government employees have armed guards, banks have armed guards to protect the money, but the government, for some reason, thought we don't need armed guards to protect our children," Dick Heller said. "Maybe they're less worthy. I don't know. I don't know what their thinking was. All I can't understand is why didn't they protect their children like the government protects itself?"

The gun control march organizers are also calling on Congress and state legislatures to prohibit the sale of bullets that shatter inside the body and to require gun-safety training for all firearms purchasers.

Among the other placards that demonstrators raised above their heads were: "More guns? More violence" and, in a reference to NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre (who has said "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun"): "Hey LaPierre. How about this? Keep the Bad guy from even getting a gun!"

NRA chief: Obama makes 'mockery' of American freedoms

The National Rifle Association chief issued a blistering retort to President Barack Obama's inaugural address, accusing him of name calling and limiting American freedoms.

Wayne LaPierre has been silent since his controversial response to a shooting massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

In a speech late Tuesday night , he took shots at Obama's inaugural address.

"President Barack Obama quoted the Declaration of Independence and he talked about 'unalienable rights.' I would argue that his words make a mockery of both," LaPierre said at a hunting and conservation event in Reno, Nevada.LaPierre took issue when Obama addressed absolutism and criticized gridlock in Washington.

"For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay," Obama said Monday.

"We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate."

LaPierre accused the president of name calling and questioned that statement.

"So what is this 'absolutism' the president attacks?" he asked. " And what are the so-called 'principles' that he wants us to settle for instead? Obama wants to turn the idea of 'absolutism, into a dirty word, just another word for extremism."

The re-emergence of NRA's potent mouthpiece comes on the same day of another school shooting that captured national headlines -- the wounding of three people on a Texas college campus.

His speech also comes as Obama and some lawmakers focus on passing gun control measures. Polls show more people are warming up to the possibility.

Last week, Obama proposed background checks on all gun sales, and bans on military style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

With relatives of some of the 20 children killed in the Connecticut rampage looking on, Obama also signed 23 executive actions -- which don't require congressional approval -- to strengthen existing gun laws. They also take related steps on mental health and school safety.

In his speech Tuesday, LaPierre set his sites on Obama's proposal to expand background checks to anyone buying a gun whether at a store or in a private sale at an auction or convention.

"There are only two reasons for that federal list of gun owners — to tax them or take them. And to anyone who says that's excessive, Barack Obama says you're an 'absolutist.' He doesn't understand you. He doesn't agree with the freedoms you cherish," he told the cheering crowd of hunting enthusiasts.

The tit-for-tat continues a running battle between the president and the powerful gun lobby.

Last week, the NRA released an advertisement that called the president an "elitist hypocrite," and asked why he opposes the idea of placing armed guards in every school -- a proposal pushed by the NRA -- despite the fact that his own children attend a school with similar security.

The ad was only slated to air on the Sportsman Channel, but has gained strong media attention, both on the airwaves and online. It has also garnered criticism.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey criticized it for making a reference to the president's children in a political attack commercial.

Speaking at a news conference last week, the outspoken governor decried the move as "reprehensible" and argued that the group lost some credibility by making the ad.

"And I think for any of us who are public figures, you see that kind of ad and you cringe. You cringe because it's just not appropriate in my view to do that," he said. "They've got real issues to debate on this topic. Get to the real issues. Don't be dragging peoples' children into this. It's wrong."

Moment: President Obama was told of Sandy Hook massacre

President Obama was told of Sandy Hook massacre

With heavy hearts and even heavier security, the surviving students of Sandy Hook Elementary School trooped back to class Thursday — in a different building and town.

Anxious parents loaded hundreds of kids onto buses for the trip to nearby Monroe, Conn., just three weeks after the terrified students fled a mass murderer who gunned down 20 of their classmates and six staffers.

The return trip was simultaneously routine and surreal.

“In a way, it’s like any other first day of school,” said Andre Nikitchyuk, whose 8-year-old son Bear survived the carnage in Newtown.

“You get your backpack and breakfast and get ready. In another way, it’s different. What happened changed us all. It’s very emotional.”

To make the transition easier, the students arrived at the former Chalk Hill Middle School to discover their desks, backpacks and other personal items were relocated to their replacement home.

But nothing was really the same — and likely would not be for a long time.

 “As a mom, I feel very weary,” said Satra Arokium, 37, mother of second-grader Cyrena. “It feels safe with the police presence. But then again, I thought the same of the other school.”

Cyrena “is still having her moments,” said Arokium. “Sometimes she will just start to cry. Normal is not a word that will ever be part of our vocabulary.”

The mother of kindergartner Page Carbon, 5, said her little girl was plagued by nightmares about snakes and coyotes.

“Unfortunately, she heard more about it than I wish she did,” said her mom, Sarah — who also has a 7-year-old son in the school.

Several homemade signs were posted along the school bus route. “You are in our prayers,” read one, while someone else created roadside silhouettes of 26 angels.
 

Others hung green and white balloons and ribbons — the Sandy Hook school colors. Their new school was flanked by armed law enforcement officers when classes resumed at 9:07 a.m.

“I think right now it has to be the safest school in America,” said Monroe police Lt. Keith White.

Both Nikitchyuk and Arokium said their kids were eager to get back to school after the tragedy and subsequent trauma.

“She’s excited for today,” said Arokium. “Kids want to go back to school, and she wants to see her friends and teachers.”

The last time they were together, their quiet morning was interrupted by the pop-pop-pop of gunfire and screaming sirens on Dec. 14.