ORLANDO, Fla. — In downtown Orlando, hundreds of people are calling for gun reform, as part of around 450 March for Our Lives demonstrations taking place across the country.

This comes on the heels of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas and the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Pulse shooting.


What You Need To Know

  • In downtown Orlando, hundreds of people are calling for gun reform, as part of around 450 March for Our Lives demonstrations taking place across the country

  • This comes on the heels of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas and the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Pulse shooting

  • The demonstrators started from Orlando City Hall and made their way to Lake Eola

The demonstrators started from Orlando City Hall and made their way to Lake Eola. With each step, they let their voices be heard, wanting to see change happen.

Organizers say they have planned this event, which is part of the second March for Our Lives, for about two weeks following the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. They say they are marching because they are tired and disheartened by all of the recent mass shootings.

One of the organizers, 18-year-old Laney Rosenblatt, who just recently graduated high school, says she took part in the first March for Our Lives event in 2018 after the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school. She says she is upset that not much has changed nationwide since then.

“We were here four years later, and we’re marching again for the same,” said Rosenblatt. “So, we’re looking for action to be taken out of this. I think it’s really important we’re here today but, I think it’s more important changes are made after this.”

Another organizer, Alicia Steffy, 20, says her family has seen the devastation that mass shootings cause. Her mother, a professor at Seminole State College, consoled several of her students who were Pulse nightclub survivors. 49 people were killed in the Orlando nightclub shooting six years ago from Sunday.

Just like her mother, Steffy is studying to become an educator at the University of Florida. She says the mass shootings at schools make her worry for her safety, and the safety of her mother and her siblings.

“Having a sibling in high school and a parent who teaches, it’s just a little terrifying never knowing, is my sibling going to come home?” Steffy said.

The demonstrators at March For Our Lives are calling for legislation that would raise the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle to 21 and ban the sales of high-capacity magazines. 

Semi-automatic weapons were used in several mass shootings including in Uvalde, Texas where 19 children and two teachers were killed. Those guns were also used in mass shooting in Buffalo, Majory Stone Douglas High School in Parkland and the Pulse nightclub shooting. 

“Passing universal background checks is the first step to saving our lives. And then from there, we’ll be able to move forward with red flag laws and things of that nature,” said March for Our Lives Board Member Mariah Cooley.

After the 2018 shooting in Parkland, then-Gov. Rick Scott signed a law that banned bump stocks, raised the gun buying age to 21, imposed a three-day waiting period for purchases, and authorized police to seek court orders seizing guns from people who are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

At the federal level, the House passed a gun reform bill, but they will need at least 10 Republicans in the Senate to pass the bill.