throughout to read victims names. you can see it live on c-span and the senate live on c-span 2. earlier today, students from across the area gathered at the capitol for a rally. members of congress ka came to microphone to talk to the students. here is a look as they march to the capitol and a look at the rally. [ chanting ] >> what do we want? >> when do we want it now? >> what do we want? gun control. >> when do we want it? now. [ chanting ] >> what do we want?

>> gun control. >> when do we want it? >> now. how are we doing out there? can you hear me? yes? could everyone hear me over there? all right. we're going to get started. how is everyone doing today? are you ready to stand up for change? ready to say enough is enough? we're going to bring up a senior at blare high school to kick off our program.

[ cheers and applause ] >> good morning, students of the dmv. whoo. my name is brenda and i'm a senior at montgomery blare high school and a proud member of montgomery county students of gun control. we founded this organization a week after the parkland students to give student as voisz and a fight for stricter gun control. >> quite. sshh. [ cheers and applause ] >> good morning students of the dmv.

[ cheers and applause ] >> my name is brenda and aim senior at montgomery blare high school and a proud member of montgomery county students for gun control. [ cheers and applause ] >> we founded this organization a week after the parkland shooting to give dmv students a voice in the fight for stricter gun control. we have proven that now is the time for change. [ cheers and applause ] >> i am inspired and empowered by each and every one of you who has walked out today. [ cheers and applause ] >> an hour ago, we stood with our backs to the white house for 17 minutes to honor the victims of the shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in park lan

parkland, florida. we remain standing together as one. what parkland showed us is that this can happen in any school. we as students, can't take this anymore. [ cheers and applause ] >> we have to fight to create change. we have to stand up against the status quo. and we have to call on congress. and keep calling until they hear our message. [ cheers and applause ] >> if you can speak, speak. if you can march, march. and when you can vote, vote. [ cheers and applause ] >> our voices matter. and when we stand up, when we speak out, we make it harder for those in power to continue doing nothing. so no more silence. not one more minute.

today, we are doing more than just taking a first step. we are about to hear from powerful student leaders and some of our elected representatives about the fight for gun control. i encourage you to use twitter, instagram, social media, anything you can with the hashtag #enoughisenoughdmv. together we are taking the step in the right direction. i want to take a moment to say thank you to the national legislator, showing solidarity today. i want to introduce someone who is active, house minority leader, nancy pelosi. [ cheers and applause ]

>> good morning dmv. thank you briana and thank you to all of the montgomery county students for your courage to stand up and speak out and walk out. i'm proud to be here with aaron organizing with congressman ted dioch. representing in congress the students who have sacrificed so much, spoken eloquently and demanded the attention of the nation. aaron helped organize the congressional solidarity walk out that all of us are honored to be apart of. [ cheers and applause ] >> the congressional solidarity walkout, we are moved by your eloquence and fearless insistence on action to prevent

gun violence. thank you for bringing your urgency to the doorstep of america. the doorstep of the capitol of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] >> our congressional solidarity walkout is here to say enough is enough. [ cheers and applause ] >> whether orlando, season bern did i know, parkland, city streets and homes across the nation. there's been too much violence and heart break. the american people overwhelmingly supporting common sense action to prevent gun violence. 97% of americans support strengthening background checks including 97% of gun owners. what more do they need to hear? there is a bipartisan path in congress. we need a vote now. >> now. >> we need a vote now. >> we need a vote now.

[ cheers and applause ] >> so i want to say to all of you. you are creating with this walkout today and your i don't know going challenge to all of us you are creating a drum beat across america. a drum beat that will echo until we get the job done. i say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, no one's political survival is most important than the survival of our children. [ cheers and applause ] >> let's get the job done. we need the help of young people like you. thank you for your e eloquence, courage and your presence and for your insistence. that enough is enough. we want a vote now. and now it is my privilege to introduce matt coast, from

montgomery. thank you all have much. >> good morning. good morning. my name is matt post. i'm a 12 grader and the student member of the board for montgomery county and i believe as students we need to make a few things clear. to start, well not sit? classrooms with armed teachers. [ cheers and applause ] >> we refuse to learn in fear. we reject turning our schools into prisons. [ cheers and applause ] >> we will accept nothing less than comprehensive gun control. and if it's what it takes, we will shame our national policymaker rs into protecting

us. [ cheers and applause ] >> not just in schools but in churches, movie theaters, on the sfreets and the communities of color which is disproportionately devastated by the sickness of gun violence. [ cheers and applause ] >> the lawmakers who fail to support us, those who look for every answer to our nation's gun problem but the guns themselves will be complicit in every death that comes after. to every politician sitting in congress working behind us, you get to decide who lives. and so this is not a partisan issue for us. there's nothing cosmetic about life or death. this is about guns and it's about our morality as a country. when the commander in chief solution to the gun problem is more guns, you know we have a moral problem in this white house. [ cheers and applause ] >> where national policymakers

value the blood money of the nra over the lives of children, you know we have a moral problem in the halls of congress. [ cheers and applause ] >> and this is doomed to happen again. when in the coming weeks and months more of my peers slaughtered in their own classrooms. and deaths dismissed as collateral, you know we have a moral problem in this country. [ cheers and applause ] >> so let's make one last thing clear. their right to own an assault rifle does not outweigh our right to live. [ cheers and applause ] >> the adults have failed us. this is in our hands now and if any elected official will get in our way, well vote them out is and replace them ourselves. enough is enough. enough is enough. [ cheers and applause ] >> now, it's my pleasure to

introduce a senator who fought for us and this cause for a long time, senate minority leader chuck schumer. >> let's hear it for matt and his great words. now, folks, one month ago. one month ago, 17 americans, 14 children, were killed at stone man. let us remember them. let us remember the thousands upon thousands of children who have died at the hands of gun violence. yesterday, there were 7,000 pairs of unworn shoes here on the east front of the capitol representing 7,000 kids who's lives could have been before them. 7,000 kids who died from gun violence only since sandy hook. enough is enough. [ cheers and applause ]

>> now, i've been through these words and i'm the author of the brady law and the assaults weapon ban, the nra has made me public enemy number one and i'm proud of it. [ cheers and applause ] >> and we've been fighting for ten years. every time, the advice like grip of the nra on the necks of some of these politicians has succeeded. but this time, it won't. you want to know why? it won't, because we have you. [ cheers and applause ] >> and together we're going to win. we're going to win. we're going to win. we're going to win. we're going to win. we're going to win. we're going to win. we're going to win. we're going to win.

we're going to win. [ chanting ] >> don't give up the fight. we will win. [ cheers and applause ] >> now it's my honor to introduce a great senator who has worked so hard after it was in his state that the horrible violence of stone man douglas occurred. your great senator, fighter for rational laws to keep us safe, senator bill nelson of florida. [ cheers and applause ] >> okay. you know we are grieving in florida. and now you are giving voice to that grief and when you march on march 24th, it's going to be a

visible expression of the grief that we've been through. it's common sense that we should have universal background checks. [ cheers and applause ] >> and it's common sense that we should get the assault rifles and the banana clips off the streets. [ cheers and applause ] >> keep on marching and keep on speaking out. thank you. god bless you. [ cheers and applause ] >> hello. my name is nate and i'm a student at john f kennedy high school in montgomery. 25 years ago my parents immigrated to montgomery county because they believed in the proposition of this country. they told me about their

hardships they faced and their education system not as developed as ours, they didn't have enough papers and pencils for the students. yet through all of the lack of resources and through struggles, they never had to worry about somebody barging into the cloos room with an assault rief specifically slaughtering everyone in the class. that's an american tragedy. [ cheers and applause ] >> they never had to think about getting shot at any moment. that's an american thought and they never had to worry that their child would be the victim of a mass shooting. that's an american worry. in the united states, we have archaic gun control law us. we've known the solution since columbine, despite being 200 shootings since then, congress has done nothing. we have to keep weapons of war from everybody and expand on mental health resources. [ cheers and applause ] >> the solution isn't arming teachers or arm more people.

my parents knew that when we moved to this country. together we will get stricter gun reform. because it is the right thing to dochlt well expand background checks because it is the right thing to do. and we will optimize the psychiatric evaluations because it too, is the right thing to do. [ cheers and applause ] >> our lives are worth more than the millions of nra dollars dumped into political campaigns. and on these issues, let me be clear, there is no compromise. we are not seeking a republican solution or democrat i can solution. we are seeking an american resolution. [ cheers and applause ] >> so let's revive the belief that individuals like my parents had and the promise of this country so we can remove feelings of fear in what should be our safest institution.

thank you. and it is in this spirit that i'm delighted to welcome senator murphy, and senator blumenthal and represent etsy. thank you. >> great job. good job, nate. >> good work. >> how are we doing washington, d.c.? let me tell you what happened in my life yesterday. my six-year-old went to his kindergarten class yesterday and got lock in a bathroom with 24 of his classmates for an active shooter drill. that should never happen in the united states of america. no one should have to go through that. and i just have a couple simple questions for the people here. for the students here who are going to lead this movement. i want to know, are you prepared to do whatever it takes to beat

the gun lobby? are you going to hold every single person in this building accou accountable for your safety? are you going to vote out of office the people who take the gun lobby money and put your safety at risk? are you, the students of america, going to lead this movement to victory? [ cheers and applause ] >> there is no great social change movement in this country that has not been lead by the youth of america. [ cheers and applause ] >> and i just have one simple message, it's not going to be easy. there are going to be defeats before you reach final victory, but also defining of the great social change movements in this country, the one that is sought adversity and pushed through are the ones that we read about in our history books by answering yes to all questions, i know in the end we will beat the nra and

kick out members of congress who don't listen to you and we will deliver change in the end. [ cheers and applause ] >> we have anybody here from connecticut? we do? great? >> two, three -- >> i'm richard blumenthal and i'm proud to be the united states senator from connecticut with chris murphy and to be here with elizabeth our great congressional colleague. if it were up to me, i would give every one of you an a, america owes you an a as your grade for today. [ cheers and applause ] >> now, i'm actually proud of the grade that i got from the nra. it's an f grade. [ cheers and applause ] >> and the reason it's an f grade is that for two decades, i

have fought for sensible, common sense measures against gun violence. but i have never felt as close to victory. >> microphone. >> i never felt as close to victory as we are today. [ cheers and applause ] >> because of you. because you have the energy and passion not just to walk out of school, but to walk into this building and make change happen. that's what it's going to take. so let me ask you -- are we going to ban assault weapons? >> yeah. >> are we going have universal background checks? >> yeah. >> and are we going to give parents and law enforcement the right to take away guns from

people who threaten to blow up schools or kill people? >> yeah. [ cheers and applause ] >> we need to remember that change has always come because of young people in the civil rights movement, in the antiwar movement, in the marriage equality movement and today's movement is a movement. are you willing to be part of it and fight until the end? >> yeah. >> well, long after we're gone, you're going to remember this day. and america will remember that you were here. thank you so much for your energy and passion. we will win. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> hi, my name is elizabeth -- okay. >> testing.

testing. okay. >> is it on now? is it on? [ cheers and applause ] >> is it on now? >> no. >> okay. is the bull horn working? did you test it? testing. can you hear me? >> yes. >> is this working? >> yeah. >> all right is it working? >> yes. >> okay my name is elizabeth i'm wearing green for the six and seven-year-old killed in my district new town connecticut but you, the parkland knew town generation, you are making the difference you are america's leader. you know enough to say that we've got to do better.

[ cheers and applause ] >> democracy is about the will of the people. 97% wants the laws change and what is this place doing? nothing. >> nothing. >> and what are you going to do? >> everything. >> we're going to change the law or we're going to change who's in congress. [ chanting ] >> let them speak. let them speak.

[ cheers and applause ] [ cheers and applause ]

thank you all. thank you all for coming here today. we are very proud of what you are doing. you, the young people of this country are leading the nation and the congress has got to follow what you are doing. [ cheers and applause ] >> all across this country, people are sick and tired of gun violence and the time is now. for all of us together to stand up to the nra. [ cheers and applause ] >> and to have common sense gun legislation. i just want to thank you for your courage and for your intelligence and for leading the nation in the right direction. thank you, all. [ cheers and applause ]

>>. [ chanting ] [ cheers and applause ] >> oh my god. oh my god. [ cheers and applause ]

all right. the kids of new town were too young to speak for themselves. you need to call this congress to account and you know what? we change the laws in congress or we're going to change congress. [ cheers and applause ] >> the folks in this building, they can lead, they can follow, or they can start looking for new jobs. [ cheers and applause ]

>> and it's my pleasure to announce emily from -- >> einstein. >> einstein. [ cheers and applause ] >> my name is emily, i go to albert einstein high school. i'm going to start off with the request for you all. raise your hand if you feel unsafe at school? look around and yet they don't understand why. they don't understand why we are here today. they don't understand why we were hear three weeks ago and they don't understand why we want stricter gun violence and they can't wrap their heads around that teenagers across america are taking charge and leading this movement [ cheers and applause ] and they don't understand that we're not going anywhere until we see change in our system.

we, the people have a responsibility to protect our own and we the children have taken it upon ourselves to push you and adults in that direction because it is not -- [ cheers and applause ] >> it is not simply, about gun control anymore. oh, here. >> because -- wait. okay. because it is not simply about gun control. this is about human life. this is about the children who have lost their lives to gun violence. so i ask our republican lawmakers is there a right to have a gun more important than our right to live? [ cheers and applause ] >> we are not here to take away the second amendment. we are here to make sure that those who are not fit to carry a weapon, do not carry a weapon.

[ cheers and applause ] >> on average, 46 children and teens are shot everyday and out of the 46, seven die. so i ask again, is their right to carry a weapon more important than our right to live. since january last year, our country has been divided but the people have had enough. we are the black lives matter movement, the immigrant rights movement and now we come together for this gun control movement. this movement does not limit to race or ethnicity. it affects us all. i am here as allah ti la tina t- we have been dealing with this issue for so long. [ speaking spanish ]

[ cheers and applause ] [ speaking spanish ] [ speaking foreign language ] and now it is my pleasure to introduce to you, representative gutierrez of illinois. >> thank you. thank you, emily.

thank you for inviting me. thank you for allowing me to be part of this process. i want to start with a quote. what we are not talking about weapons designed for hunting or sport. we are not talking about those designed to kill human beings, it is about time that we are going to stand up to say that we will not allow them in our community. that was from the "chicago tribune tribune" in 1993, and almost a year no today, "a new congressman takes aim at guns." and well that new congressman was me, and 25 years ago, and one of my proudest moments as a freshman congressman was to vote for an assault weapons ban. now, we need action, and not

talk. we need laws, not nice thoughts and prayers. we need safety and security, not safe talking points that secure other people's re-election. it was 25 years ago when i was quoted. and none of you were born. yet, we are all still here. and after a decade long assault weapons ban expired, still asking the people in that building behind us to adopt common sense policy to keep americans from shooting and killing other americans, 17 killed in parkland ain just a fw minutes, and in chicago, 400 shot just this year alone through march, and last year in

my city, 600 murders. it is a national tragedy. even so, we have are gun control laws in our city. but let me tell you something that's changed from 25 years ago. and it is not just that i am a senior citizen. i look at the crowd and i see the future and i see you and i came here to say thank you. because i know you will accomplish with what i and others have failed to do. and i thank you on behalf of my own grandson luis who is today taking his 17 minutes outside of his school. i thank you, because of you you are guaranteeing his future and the future of all of americans.

i know that you know this one and we will chant it together -- [ speaking foreign language ] i want to tell all of you, because i know that there are dreamers walking among you and r are your classmates. march for them. march for safety. you know why i am before this microphone? because black lives matter, and black people gave up their lives, because in the '60s when i was in high school, they were black americans who devised thele systthe thele -- devised the system and we need equal rights, and i have this microphone --

[ speaking foreign language ] -- and for the first chance for you the vote, they are reduced it from 21 to 18 and this is a smart decision, but they the smart decision is to rethinking once again to lower the voting age once again so young people can help take over. >> can everybody hear me? you can hear me? i'm michael solomon and i'm a

sophomore at greenberg high school, and before i start, i want to thank everybody who has helped us, and all of the individuals and the organization, and we couldn't have done it without you guys, but most of all, i want to thank every single one of you out here, because you guys are the fuel that the engine of this movement needs to run on. i want all of you the to know that you are on the right side of history for this. now, personally, i am glad to take part in a powerful nationwide movement like the one that we are participating in today, but we can all agree in the ideal world none of us would be here. in the ideal world, the 21 kindergarteners and first graders that died at sandy hook would be in school, and the people gun ned down in las vega

would have returned home to be with their families and the 32 students at virginia tech be employed professionals and the victims of stoneman douglas would be eating lunch at school right now, and the only thing they would be worrying about is a test for next period. but unfortunately this is not the case. unfortunately, we live in a country where the lawmakers are more concerned about their contributions from the nra than they are about their own constiff wents. -- constituent, and thanks to people like them, you and i have to go to school everyday and wonder in the back of our minds if we will even make it to graduation. that shouldn't happen. so, this is going to go on no longer. the students of the united states have a message for all of you in congress. if you don't give us stricter

background checks and have the restrictions on the ar-15-style weapons and easier access to mental healthle lresources, yo will be paying dearly at the ballot box. by the end of november, most of us are 18 today, and a lot of us will be 18 by november, and that is when midterm elections start. so i can promise you this. do your job, and give us c concrete solutions, and for once if you will view our lives over your bank accounts, or we will vote you out. i want everybody to remember and a watching this, this is not an excuse to miss school or a pointless effort to bear no fruit. i urge everyone here watching to remember, remember history,

remember that the protests and the march on washington in the civil rights movement brought us the voting rights act and the civil rights act of the 1960s. i want everyone to remember, and i want everyone to remember that the protests from the women's suffrage movements gave us the 19th amendment. and so-and-so forth. i want all of you to know that we will join the ranks in the history book, because we, too, will remain per ssistent until there is real change. thank you. and now i would like to introduce senator van hollen and senator cardin. >> thank you, michael. do we have montgomery, maryland n the house? this time, it will be different.

america is listening to your voices, and the students around the country. when it comes to gun safety legislation, you will not take no as ans answer. you will demand that we have gun safety, because it is your future and america's future, and that is what is at stake. i'm proud to be on your team. along with my colleagues and make it clear we will demand come p comprehensive background checks for anyone to buy a gun. we want the end of the assault-type weapons in america. and we don't want anymore guns in our schools.

your voices must be heard. we are so proud of the students from maryland that are here, and we are proud of the students around the nation, and we look forward to joining you on march 24th. america will know, and america, we must act. >> to the students of maryland, and to the students of this region. to the students all over america. and we have a simple message to awe all of you, which is know your power. you can change the direction of america. you aret not only the future of america, but you are the conscious of america, and you are here to ask america to do

the right thing. you are here to say that it is unacceptable in america for students to be slaughtered in their schools. >> it is wrong in america for people to go to concerts and end up in carnage. and it is unacceptable in america to see the daily toll of gun violence on the streets throughout our country. earlier on the floor of the senate, senator cardin and i read the names of the victims of gun violence in maryland. including 17 young people, people under 20 who were victims in maryland just in the last year. people from all over our state, and all over the country are

crying out, and saying that we are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore. we have to gets a sault weapons off of the streets, and we have to have universal background check, and the answer is not more guns in schools, but teacher teachers who should be armed with knowledge and not with weapons. and now, just the other date the white house when the cameras were on, the chief executive asked the question, who is afraid of the nra? we found out that he was after raid of the nra, but are you after raid of the nra? -- afraid of the nra? we need to make sure that republicans, democrats and people of all political stripes

are more afraid of the next school massacre, and they are more afraid of the next death of the streets in our kcountry, an more afraid of that than they are of the nra. and you, the student movement, you are going to make it happen. you are going to be what is different this time, and so i have one simple question, and the nra and the gun lobby and the cynics are counting on all of you to just go away after today. are you going to go away? >> no! >> are you going to be back here on march 24th? >> yes. >> are you going to make sure that we fight every week and every month and every year until we have safe america? >> yes. >> let's go get'em!

>> hi. i'm dani, and i'm a junior at churchill high school. i would like to thank everyone for coming out here. we are the change that causes a change. i would like to welcome up representatives eleanor holmes norton, and represent john lewis, and represent john deutsche. we have so privileged that the next speaker is lending us his voice today. ladies and gentlemen, award-winning poet joseph green. >> how is everybody doing today? i am honored to be here. my name is joseph green, a and i'm a poet, activist and

educator in the youth program coordinator at split this rock, a national art arts and social justice program, but i am not only that, but i am a black man. i am a father, and i have been charged with the mission of creating space for young people in a city that has been plagued with gun violence for far too long. i see before me today a generation of youth pissed off and ready to take on the real issue issues of our time. and i know that each of you is knowledgeable enough to understand that america's gun violence epidemic did not start in the suburbs, and it is not isolate nod the schools. you know that organizations like black lives matter and the black youth project and dozens of others have been fighting for gun violence in places where the outrage are not afforded the same acknowledgment of the humanity or the levels of

external support as we are privileged to have here today. if this movement is not going to come out of the suburb, and if it does not speak to domestic violence, and toxic masculine ti and seeks to protect some and not other, and if it attempts to demilitarize the public and not the police, and if it is only going to exceed the safety of those who have advantage, then it is not going to work. our potential, our po ttential only realized if we choose to embrace and support our intersections together is the only way forward. i have been asked to do a poem here today and this poem is dedicated to my 4-year-old son and everybody who has been fighting for black lives. today, i am doused in guilt and

i don't know what to do with these hands, and facebook and twitter have told me that my friends have joined together in digital solidarity to fight for our rights or for your life or so that this never happens again, and photos from the front line of our most right to ourselves, and the memes and the hashtags and i realized that this happened before. i wonder fi listened to the recording of your murder, will h i hear anything different? to me, your life and death is nothing more than a facebook update or the trending topic on twitter, #i hope somebody is still praying for your mother, #, insert your child's name here, #, all black bodies look alike unle till thtil they are and i am too upset about a irrational society to wonder if black lives are important enough

to fight for actual black lives, but as i stand here ranting, i realize it is because i don't know what to do with these hand s that must hold and protect my son. they are not bulletproof. they are made of the same material that have seen so many murdered, and before i follow the flight, i see that somebody is crying for you, somewhere, a black mother is gathering all of the clothing that their children own and burning our post racial society in effigy, and black female is being followed in macy's on the suspicion of being black are, and the black hands up, and don't shoot, and you told me to get my i.d., and somewhe somewhere, please don't shoot, and that somewhere -- that somewhere we still can't breathe. that somewhere they are toasting the man who did this to you, ta and clans are gathering, and

only this time, they won't be wearing hoods. they will be dressed in suits and cloak ed by law and progressed with progressing the doctrine that if you do not look like you belong here, you can be murdered. if you look like you belong here, you can be murdered. i will not always be able to protect my son. i pray that by then, black children and fear, black women and violence and black trends and assaults, and black fear and black bodies and black deceased is no longer a synonym. at night when i take my 4-year-old son's up, i say, hands up, henry, and he thinks that we are playing a game, and i pray that when his time comes up, he will know what to do with his hands. thank you.

keep fighting. p power to the people. >> my name is sam simpson and i work at the pride against gun violence. when with the lgbt group gets together we get things done and we stand behind you the fight for gun control in our schools in america. >> can you speak up? >> pulse was the worst mass shooting in history and i don't need to tell you that america has endured hundreds of mass shootings since, and including sutherland spring, las vegas, and now parkland. this carnage has to stop.

a comprehensive approach to not forget what happened at marjory stoneman douglas schools. are republicans in congress continue to take campaign contribu contributions in congress to toe the line. and to these republicans, they believe there is nothing we can do to curb gun violence. and every year, the truth is that there is at least 1,000

people, and more heartbreaking, on average more deaths are lost the gun violence. however, the military assault weapons and large capacity magazines designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. america's homicide rate is 25 times more than the average of any other developed country. and we need more inform edinford

we need more informed leaders like betty si devos. and today, we applaud these leaders for standing up games hate and taking a action. it is because of the action of walking out today that anything is even happening. the entire country is listening. don't hold back. come november make the change happen. >> my name is jennifer stein. i'm a volunteer with the maryland moms gaiagainst gun violence in america. today, i'm here in my own capacity to speak to you as the

concerned mother of two vcc high school students. i'm so honored to be here today with some of my heroes. do you know who i now count among my greatest heroes? the students of america who are standing in unity. you are taking up the fight of a lifetime demanding that your leaders put your safety, the public safety ahead of the greedy gun manufacturers lobby. that is a wise and noble goal indeed and i applaud you. we all know, don't we, that it is possible to have both the second amendment and common sense gun laws such as universal background checks. they are not mutually exclusive. this is called gun sense. and some of our leaders have it,

and too many of our leaders do not. so tame the mother of two teens, but you don't have to be a mother or even female to be a mom. being a mom is a state of mind, and instinct. moms love and care about our children, and all of our nation's children, and want to protect them from the evil in the world. that is called being a mom. and you know what is evil is when the elected officials put the interest of gun manufacturers ahead of the public safety and the safety of our children. that is evil. so what can be done at the grass roots level? we don't have to accept the status quo, and here are some new rules. one, register to vote, and -- and maryland, you can register as young as 16 years old.

my 16-year-old just got her learner's permit and registered at the the mv aa and go to turbovote.org to register there. and two, pledge to be a gun sense voter, and that is meaning that once you are old to vote, you will go to the polls, and cast your vote on the single issue, gun violence permission, and please know that your vote is powerful, and it belongs to you, and use it to fight for a safer future for you and your children. three, find out how much money your lawmakers have accepted from are the nshra. and if they take money from the gun lobby, is it any surprise that they will vote any way that the nra wants them to vote on legislation? we must hold our elected officials accountable for their

actions or the inactions when it comes to common sense gun reform. and when you are old enough, run for office yourselves as a gun sense candidate. in the meantime, volunteer. even to work on a gun sense candidate's campaign or with a gun violence prevention group. so as admittedly uncool mom of two vcc high school students, one who participated in the walkout on february 21st, and the other who i think that is here somewhere here today, i just want to thank montgomery county students for gun control to invite me here to talk to you about gun violence prevention at the grass roots level. i hope you know by now it is the mom's role to support you and give you advice is and guidance

and maybe you don't agree with everything that we say, and maybe you go a hehead to do whae want anyway and this is called being a teenager, but if gun violence prevention is your cause, your issue, i think that i speak for all of the moms that were here when i say that we are here for you. >> and finally, i just want to thank you all for being the true adults in the room, when it comes to the disgraceful epidemic of gun violence in the country. and then the civil rights years of yesterday, and history is going to judge you kindly, and as for the adults, including the adults that work in this building who failed to protect you and sold you out to the gun lobby, they are going to be judged harshly and with scorn and i hope to see you all back here in d.c. on the 24th for the

march. thank you. >> guys, look at what you have done done. >> look at what you have built. i don't want anybody to silence you after today. don't let anybody water down the message, and you fight for what is right, and you fight for what you believe in, because how many of you are going to be able to the vow to vote in 2018? how many of you are going to to be voting in 2020? we have listened to some amazing speakers here today, and all of you are going to be the lead rers of trer can -- leaders of the future, and while we have seen so many

leaders who show up for the gun violence prevention priority, there are too many behind us that do nothing to keep you all safe. and here is the thing. we need you to vote, because we need to change who is going to be in the building. >> but that is not enough. we need you have to be the next generation of leaders. this is going to be your world. your future, and we don't need you out here, because we need you in there. so i think that we should send a message to congress. i want everybody to repeat after me. can you hear our screams? can you hear us

we will take it to the voting booth and vote you out. let's get this the done. >> what's up, everyone? can you hear me? good. i'm a freshman at quinn source er high school. thank you. and some people believe that stricter gun control wouldn't do anything, but after the shooting in australia, it took 3 1/2 months for the laws to be passed to result in zero massacres. growing up, i had the privilege to live in japan which is a country with the lowest violence of any country, however, you do have the right to own a gun in japan, but in order to do that, you must take a class, a shooting range test, and pass a mental health exam, and drug test and comprehensive

background check. the requirements are extensive, but it pays off. there has never been a mass shooting in japan ever. other countries may have laws to protect their citizens, and it works. we know that we don't have to live like this in the u.s., and our children don't have to die like this. i see myself in those students from parkland. those teens that we see over and over again on the tv running out of the schools with their hands on each other's shoulders. it could have been any one of our schools, and it still can be. why are our lives at stake? why do we have to worry about our friends, teachers and our families and why do my parents have to wonder if both of their kids will make it home? why do i have to worry about walking into the high school and to be wheeled out as a body in a bag in the afternoon.

america is a country built on the persistent ideas that lead us forward. i am proud to be an american, and i march not only because i love my country, but because i will fight for my country. i will fight until our kids can go to school and come home unharmed. i will fight until gay people can go to the nightclub and just a good time, and i will fight until we are no longer afraid. the congressmen and women who are being paid by the nra to keep their mouth shut are stalling this country's progress. when i was young, i used to look up to the officials in the government believing they would do what is right for the american people. but now they are the ones failing to create the laws that

we need and we're the ones paying the price. but i promise you this, if they fail to make gun control laws, then in a couple of years when they are voted out, we will. earlier today, the senate judiciary committee held a hearing on gun violence and school safety. the hearing comes on the one-month anniversary of when 14 high school student, and three teachers were killed at a high school in parkland, florida. >> we welcome everybody to a very important oversight hearing. and we are here this mng