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Thousands March for Gun Control in Washington, D.C.: ‘Ban Assault Weapons Now’

Jan. 26, 2013 6:30pm Erica Ritz

Gun Control March in Washington, D.C. Draws Thousands: Ban Assault Weapons Now

Vincent Gray (C), Mayor of the District of Columbia, leads a march for stricter gun control laws on January 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Getty Images)

(TheBlaze/AP) — Thousands of people, many holding signs with names of gun violence victims and messages like “Ban Assault Weapons Now,” joined a rally for gun control on Saturday marching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

Leading the crowd were marchers with “We Are Sandy Hook” signs, paying tribute to victims of the December school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and other city officials marched alongside them, the crowd stretching for at least two blocks along Constitution Avenue.

Some participants held signs reading “Gun Control Now,” “Stop NRA” and “What Would Jesus Pack?”

Advocates of stricter gun control laws march near the U.S. Capitol on January 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Getty Images)

According to organizers, about 100 residents from Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six teachers, traveled to Washington to join the rally.

Participant Kara Baekey from nearby Norwalk, Conn., said that when she heard about the Newtown shooting, she immediately thought of her two young children. She said she decided she must take action, and that’s why she traveled to Washington for the march.

“I wanted to make sure this never happens at my kids’ school or any other school,” Baekey said. “It just can’t happen again.”

Once the crowd arrived at the monument speakers called for a ban on what they described as “military-style assault weapons” and high-capacity ammunition, in addition to universal background checks on gun sales.

(L-R) Cori Lynn Campbell, her husband Erik Singer, both of Maplewood, New Jersey, and Martha Nichols, of Vienna Virginia, participate in a rally on the National Mall for stricter gun control laws on January 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Getty Images)

Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the crowd it’s not about taking away Second Amendment gun rights, but about gun safety and saving lives. He said he and President Barack Obama will do everything they can to enact gun control policies.

“This is about trying to create a climate in which our children can grow up free of fear,” Duncan said. “This march is a starting point; it is not an ending point … We must act, we must act, we must act.”

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s non-voting representative in Congress, said the gun lobby can be stopped and the crowd chanted back, “Yes, we can!”

People walk from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, during a march on Washington for gun control. (Photo: AP)

“We are all culpable if we do nothing now,” Norton said

James Agenbroad, 78, of Garrett Park, Md., carried a handwritten sign on cardboard that read “Repeal the 2nd Amendment.” He called it the only way to stop mass killings because he thinks the Supreme Court will strike down any other restrictions on guns.

“You can repeal it,” he said. “We repealed prohibition.”

Molly Smith, the artistic director of Washington’s Arena Stage, and her partner organized the march. Organizers said that in addition to the 100 people from Newtown, buses of participants traveled from New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. Others flew in from Seattle, San Francisco and Alaska, they said.

Advocates of stricter gun control laws march through downtown on January 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Getty Images)

While she’s never organized a political march before, Smith said she was compelled to press for a change in the law.

“With the drum roll, the consistency of the mass murders and the shock of it, it is always something that is moving and devastating to me. And then, it’s as if I move on,” Smith said. “And in this moment, I can’t move on. I can’t move on.”

After the Connecticut shootings, Smith began organizing on Facebook. The group One Million Moms for Gun Control, the Washington National Cathedral and two other churches eventually signed on to co-sponsor the march. Organizers have raised more than $50,000 online to pay for equipment and fees to stage the rally, Smith said.

People walk from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, for a march on Washington for gun control. (Photo: AP)

Lawmakers from the District of Columbia and Maryland rallied the crowd, along with Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund and Colin Goddard, a survivor from the Virginia Tech massacre.

“We are Americans,” he said, drawing big cheers. “We have overcome difficulties when we realize we are better than this.”

KTLA5 has video from the scene:

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In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (323)

lassiegirldawn
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 12:43am
These are the people that need to be on a list stating they do not own guns. They are probably the same idiots that say, “having a good time on vacation,” and post it on face book then cry because they got robbed.

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RDavis49
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 12:36am
It’s pretty obvious by the photo’s and signs that this Liberal, Socialist, Progressive, Communist, Dictatorship Minded Administration has all their “Useful Little Idiots” doing their bidding for them. These people are severly deficient in reasoning skills and common sense.

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WiseFox
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 12:29am
Some of these people are naive to think that their signs and shouts will deter real Americans from demanding their rights. They are being duped by the instigator marxist/communists who could care less about the subject of their protest. It is sad, because, should this phony push lead to a physical confrontation, they, along with their families and children will suffer along with the American patriots who will also be hurt. Don’t they know that that is how tyranny works? Please read your history books before it is is too late to stop the madness of an evil movement! The bloody history of the world is repeating itself here in this country.

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lqtm
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 12:20am
Enicom is probably the facist propaganda pig running burntheblaze.com

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Grand design
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 12:14am
Useful idiots! Gun control is a hoax put on the weak minded public by Socialist’s!

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thegreatcarnac
Posted on January 27, 2013 at 12:06am
This group of liberal trash is nothing more than the usual democratic rent-a-mob. They get these people for any liberal occasion they want to support. This time obama told them to dress nice, take a bath, and get a haircut before you arrive. This ‘rally’ was organized by communist groups. There were a few other useful-idiots from Connecticut and other Northeast gun hater-states, but most were the usual democratic suspects. They may as well carried signs that said…’please rob us and shoot us- we hate to defend ourselves’.

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idrathermisstotheright
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 11:48pm
Nice balanced media coverage. Not a word about the pro constitution 2nd amendment rally at all the capitols across the USA. But they put a few jokers on TV with Soros sponsored signs and it makes the front page. We have to take the media back.

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Skiwheels234
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 11:40pm
I’m embarrassed to admit to having grown up in Garrett Perk, MD. That commie with the hand painted sign that wanted to repeal the 2nd Amendment should be shipped out to any communist country of his choice. I’ll be glad to donate for his one way ticket. He obviously does not deserve to live in a free country. These idiots in this march are clueless. They wouldn’t even wake up if they were being herded into boxcars on the way to the ovens.

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TSUNAMI_22
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 11:31pm
“What would Jesus pack?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He’d pack apostles with big-ass swords just like he did at the last supper.

“Swords”, as in the most up-to-date version of an “assault weapon”.

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- GuruMeditation
  Posted on January 26, 2013 at 11:42pm
  You got it.
  
  Report this comment
- SheRa
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 1:20am
  That’s what I said!! Some people try to twist things, there just like the Pharisees!!
  
  Report this comment
RDavis49
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 11:28pm
“IF THEY COME FOR YOUR GUNS”… somewhat long but it makes a solid point…. This man has put down on paper what many Americans are thinking but are too cautious (Not Scared) to express openly. I hope it never comes to what he is advocating but I can certainly see where the possibilities exists. God help us all if it ever does happen.

PS: Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the author:

Dean Garrison (born 1955) is a contemporary American author and crime fiction novelist. He was born in Michigan, grew up in the Indiana, Illinois, and Texas and received his B.A. degree from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. Garrison is a Crime Scene Technician in West Michigan. His research in the fields of crime scene investigation and Shooting Reconstruction are widely published in forensic journals under the name “D.H. Garrison, Jr.”

Go here now and L E A R N S O M E T H I N G about your country and it’s constitution……

http://www.standupamericaus.org/big-government/if-they-come-for-your-guns-dean-garrison/

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- TSUNAMI_22
  Posted on January 26, 2013 at 11:59pm
  Thank you for this, sir.
  
  Report this comment
- spfoam1
  Posted on January 27, 2013 at 1:33am
  Great article!
  
  Report this comment
searching for the Truth
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 10:37pm
” Would Like almost to say famous phrase from Planet of the Apes , now.” But, and since , I don’t want any to go ” there,” – I just see a crumbled Tower of Liberty.

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mikenleeds
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 10:24pm
Hundreds of idiots

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Advection
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:51pm
This is the way good government is supposed to happen. A few morons march, trying to ruin the nation with their crazy ideas, and they’re later trounced at the polls by their sane neighbors.

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kiwi1
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:47pm
Sheep trying to lead other Sheep to slaughter. Take guns away from the law abiding citizen and only the Criminals will have the guns. Hey Sheep, who’s going to help you when only the bad guy has the Gun. The Police Will Get There Too Late. Good Luck With That.

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___
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:35pm
Looks like 100′s to me.
Someone should stage a mock demonstration showing real gun control advocates.
Dress up like Satan worshipers, congress, New world Order types, presidents, criminals, gang members, pirates, Federal Reserve Chairmen

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Tri-ox
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:28pm
IDIOTS on PARADE.

Anyway, it looks more like DOZENS rather than “THOUSANDS”.

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merchantsailor
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:28pm
What if “tens of thousands” marched on DC open carrying and displaying signs ? Listen to some speeches, chant and shout “yes we can”. I am talking peaceful but armed, who would have a hemorrhage first? DC police or the politicians? Could it be stopped or would it be the straw that broke the camels back. And we have Lexington all over again? I know crazy thinking but just wondering.

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FireRose
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:24pm
“Protect children, not guns” — With what? Slingshots?

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hkyplayer
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:23pm
No sign saying anything against hollywood! This is the typical moron Liberials who think young kids are influenced by the NRA and not hollywood…

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nancyray73
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:20pm
I wonder how many of those protesting beleive in legal murder called abortion!!!!!! Over 300,000 were killed by Planned parenthood alone lasr year.

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GuruMeditation
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 9:19pm
Please people. Please pull your heads out of the sand! You will ruin this country with this mentality. You will be betrayed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN0vkSO9n8Y

Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children

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Saxxon
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 8:55pm
Look carefully people. These are the useful idiots who by their complicity are the enemy of free people. They are willing pawns of totalitarian bent politicians who wish to frame a deabte and issue to undermine the rights that stand in their way or more control.

If anyone was looking to stop the mass shootings, they’d be asking why we are giving psychotropic drugs to kids – drugs that induce violence in many people as a LISTED SIDE EFFECT.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/top-psychiatrist-meds-behind-school-massacres/

http://ssristories.com/

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Protech64
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 8:54pm
How about passing a law that says – NO registered Democrat can own a gun. This wat the liberals get what they want and Conservatives keep their guns and defend themselves and Country.

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Uechi
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 8:54pm
Nice stupid sign ” Guns kill children” More kids drown in backyard pools, in automobile accidents or are beaten to death by a parent every year then buy fireaarms. These morons don’t have a clue just send me my food stamps and my welfare check, daah.

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OlefromMN
Posted on January 26, 2013 at 8:53pm
Top picture center. Imagine that man being confronted by an armed thug while he is walking his daughter to the ice cream shop. I don’t think Depends makes a diaper large enough.

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