WASHINGTON — Serena Rodrigues remembers how she felt four years ago, during her first March for Our Lives rally in Orlando, Florida, when she took a moment to watch a seemingly endless throng of people march together in support of gun control.
The West Palm Beach, Florida, native — then just a college student — found the experience empowering, turning the grief she felt after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School into a conviction that the country might be ready to do something about firearms-related violence.
Now 23, Rodrigues on Saturday once again gathered for a rally in response to another school mass shooting — but the emotional experience was a little different this time.
“It’s hard to keep the frustration at bay, at least for me,” said Rodrigues, who now works as a full-time organizer for March for Our Lives. “I’m definitely still feeling it. I definitely try to channel that energy into my organizing. But it is difficult.”
Rodrigues was one of thousands who attended Saturday’s March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., held in the aftermath of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, that left 31 people dead and renewed a national debate about the access to firearms. It’s the first such rally in the nation’s capital since 2018, which was held after 17 people were killed during the Parkland, Florida, shooting.
Many of the advocates attending the rally, like Rodrigues, say their optimism about the country’s ability to respond to gun violence hasn’t necessarily faded, especially given the ongoing negotiations in Congress over legislation that might further restrict access to guns.
But after years of Congressional inaction and the continued toll of regular mass shootings, their hopefulness now shares an uneasy coexistence with a deep feeling of frustration and anger that the country’s problem of gun violence has not yet shrunk.
“I was hoping to avoid speaking to you today,” said Manuel Oliver, addressing the crowd. “I was hoping to avoid attending a march like this one ever again.”
Oliver, a gun control advocate whose son Joaquin Oliver was killed during the Parkland shooting, was one of many speakers on the day who criticized elected officials in Washington for their failure to pass legislation in response to gun-related deaths, saying they should be voted out of office if they continue to do nothing.
Congressional negotiations
Many in attendance lamented how previous tragedies, including at Parkland, had failed to spur a legislative response, forcing their continued advocacy on an issue they considered a matter of life and death.
“I can’t help wondering, when they did this in … 2018, did they leave with a sense of optimism?” said Susan Oakley, a 68-year-old resident of Buffalo, who traveled to D.C. for the rally. “Because they worked so hard, and it didn’t happen, and here we are again.”
The Washington rally took place a few hundred yards from the Washington Monument, on the National Mall, and a few miles down the road from the U.S. Capitol, where negotiations are ongoing over legislation drafted in response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Since the shooting, a bipartisan group of negotiators in Congress, led by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, has attempted to find a legislative compromise that can win the support of 10 Republicans necessary to overcome the legislative filibuster.
It’s an effort with the support of President Joe Biden, with some veteran lawmakers saying they think the negotiations are closer to a breakthrough than any time in recent memory.
The negotiations are proof, some in attendance said, that though they feel frustrated themselves, the country has nonetheless moved closer to responding to gun-related violence than it did in the aftermath of Parkland in 2018.
“Since then we elected a president who will sign gun safety legislation,” said Fred Guttenberg, a gun control advocate whose daughter, Jaime Guttenberg, was killed in Parkland. “We elected a House of Representatives who’s not just talking about it but passed historic legislation just this week.”
Guttenberg said, however, that he wasn’t sure if Congress would ultimately approve the legislation, saying he didn’t know if enough Republican lawmakers would sign up. And after a week of advocacy in Congress, urging lawmakers to find a deal, he acknowledged his own fatigue.
“One word: exhausted,” Guttenberg said, when asked how he felt. “I’m tired. I’ve been going nonstop.”
Hopeful
Some of those attending the rally said they applauded the work Guttenberg and March for Our Lives had done. But the fight against gun violence, they said, had already been going on far too long.
“Enough was enough at Columbine,” said Margaret Norris, a teacher from Kensington, Maryland, referencing the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.
“A lot of what I’m reading this week is about how it feels different again,” she added. “But how many times is it going to have to feel different before a change is made?”
Rodrigues said she’s also hopeful that this time will be different, saying she feels a renewed energy both among her peers and in the country about the need to to take action. And more so than four years ago, she said she now understands the kind of pressure she and others must apply on lawmakers to get the response they want.
“Now, I’ve learned to not really change my expectations, but sort of demand more from those in power,” she said. “And not just hope they listen, but demand it.”
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