March for Our Lives

Overview

March For Our Lives was a demonstration held in protest of the gun laws in the United States held on March 24th, 2018. The march was organized by the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in collaboration with the Everytown for Gun Saftey organization, demanding action from congress to address gun violence and school safety in the United States of America. While the main demonstration took place in Washington, D.C., marches and demonstrations were held around the world as well.

Background

#NeverAgain

On February 14th, 2018, a gunman entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and opened fire using an AR=15 rifle, killing 17 students and injuring 15 others.

The following day, Parkland Shooting activist Cameron Kasky wrote on his personal Facebook page, "Working on a central space that isn’t just my personal page for all of us to come together and change this. Stay alert. #NeverAgain."^[1]

That day, he and a group of organized survivors from the shooting launched the Never Again Facebook page.^[3] The about section for the page reads, "Run by survivors of the Stoneman Douglas shooting. We are sick of the Florida lawmakers choosing money from the NRA over our safety. #NeverAgain." Within two months, the group has more than 153,000 likes and 160,000 follows.

On February 16th, he tweeted^[2] 3:00 PM eastern time. Everybody please tweet with the hashtag #NeverAgain. We’re gonna make sure people know we are demanding change and we are united." The post (shown below) received more than 120 retweets and 180 likes in a little over a month.

"Never Again" would grow to be the banner organization for the activists and survivors of the shooting.

March Announcement

On February 18th, the Never Again organizers appeared on the ABC News series This Week.^[4] During the interview, the group announced the march. Kasky said, "People are saying that it’s not time to talk about gun control, and we can respect that. Here’s a time: March 24, in every single city." Later in the interview, Kasky said the demonstration would be called the "March for Our Lives."^[5]

Development

On February 22nd, The Washington Post^[14] reported that an event permit application stated that the organizers for the March expected up to 500,000 attendees.

Organizers believed that about 800,000 people attended the rally in Washington, DC.^[28]

Location

The primary demonstration for the March will take place in Washington, DC. IN addition to the march, the demonstration will also feature speeches and performances.^[6]

Additionally, fellow demonstrations will be taking place throughout the United States. The March's website boasted most than 830 sibling events throughout the world, including events in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.^[7]

Online Reaction

News of and about the March for Our Lives made the front page of numerous subreddits. On March 25th, Redditor^[8] Sariel007 posted the article "Gucci donates $500,000 to March for Our Lives." Within a month, the post received more than 25,000 points (75% upvoted) and 2,100 comments. Additionally, threads in /r/politics^[9][10][11] and /r/TumblrInAction^[12] received more than 1,000 points each.

Opposition

On March 19th, 2018, the official Twitter^[13] account for the National Rifle Association's (NRA) television channel posted an advertisement for the series Noir, which rebutted an advertisement for the March for Our Lives. The tweet (shown below) received more than 240 retweets and 520 likes in four days.

On March 24th, Fox News correspondent Tomi Lahren posted an image on Instagram ^[24] of a gun tucked into her yoga pants. She captioned the post, "Live. Speak. Stand. Run. Carry with Confidence. Ladies, chances are your assailant is gonna be bigger, stronger and faster and that’s why you have @alexoathletica for your gun, your mace, or even your phone. Yeah, you’ve got it covered. #TeamTomi #alexoathletica #NotYourAverageGunGirl." The post (shown below) received more than 146,000 likes.

That day, she tweeted,^[25] "Simply being anti-NRA is not a solution. March FOR something, not just against everything." Within two days, the post (shown below, left) received more than 3,100 retweets and 15,000 likes.

Many reacted to Lahren's post negatively. The Twitter account for VoteVets tweeted,^[26] "Literally called March FOR Our Lives. 🤦." The post (shown below, center) received more than 3,100 retweets and 16,000 likes. Screenwriter tweeted,^[27] "MarchFORourlives. For. Our. Lives. FOR. FOR FOR FOR FOR FOR. For. For. FORFORFORFORFORFORFORFORFORFOR. For. For Our Lives. It's called the MARCHFOROURLIVES. Good talk." The post (shown below, right) received more than 920 retweets and 4,900 likes in two days.

On March 24th, the official Twitter^[29] account for the social network Gab posted a gif of fake animation of Emma Gonzalez tearing up the constitution. The post (shown below) received more than 1,600 retweets and 3,200 likes in two days.

The following day, Teen Vogue chief content officer, Phillip Picardi tweeted^[30] a side-by-side image of the animation and the real image of Gonzalez ripping a target practice poster in half. He captioned the post, "At left is @tyler_mitchell’s photo of @Emma4Change for the cover of @TeenVogue. At right is what so-called 'Gun Rights Activists' have photoshopped it into. #MarchForOurLives." The post (shown below, left) received more than 2,700 retweets and 4,200 likes in 24 hours.

Additionally, he posted the real version of the animation (shown below, right) with the caption, "The fact that we even have to clarify this is proof of how democracy continues to be fractured by people who manipulate and fabricate the truth." The post received more than 590 retweets and 1,700 likes in 24 hours.

Protest Signs

On the day of the March, many online shared pictures of some of their favorite protest signs. Twitter^[18] user @Susannah_Bryan tweeted a picture of shooting survivor Samantha Mayor and her mom holding signs that read, "I'm marching so no other parent has to hear 'Mom I've been shot'" and "I march because I was almost silences." She captioned the post, "Stoneman Douglas junior Samantha Mayor, 17, was shot in the knee during shooting rampage on Feb. 14. Here she is with mom Ellyn at #MarchForOurLives in Parkland." The post (shown below) received more than 22,000 retweets and 78,000 likes in two days.

Throughout the day, people continued to show humorous, satirical and poignant signs about gun control (examples below, left). Twitter^[19] user @kira_lerner tweeted a picture of protest sign that features a variation of the Distracted Boyfriend meme. They captioned the post, "The teens are really good at the signs." The post (shown below, center) received more than 850 retweets and 2,200 likes.

Twitter^[20] user @feministabulous tweeted a picture of a child holding a sign that reads "I can't even bring peanut butter to school." The post (shown below, right) received more than 56,000 retweets and 167,000 likes in two days.

Several media outlets covered the protest sings, including The Daily Dot,^[21] The New York Times,^[22] Business Insider^[23] and more.

Additionally, signs based on SpongeBob SquarePants were popular at the March, including Mocking SpongeBob, Savage Patrick and Krusty Krab vs. Chum Bucket (shown below, respectively).

On March 25th, former Senator Rick Santorum appeared on CNN and said, "How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that."

Later that day, Parkland shooting survivor responded to these comments by saying, "CPR won't help if you're shot."

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the March, including The Washington Post, The New York Times,^[15] CNN,^[16] ABC,^[17] and more.

Search Interest

External References