and you still have that blue vest is. that's the trademark. thank you so much. good to see you. all of you be sure to catch "hope & fury" tonight on nbc. we are approaching the top of the hour. this time i will hand over to my colleague ali on location for today's mar"march for our lives rally. i look forward to joining new a few minutes. i will be first person narrative on security is. it may be like an hour. who knows? >> get here soon. i'm looking forward to seeing you, my friend. we will be together the next couple of hours. good morning, everyone. i'm al velshi live on the mall for "march for our lives". it's saturday morning. let's get started. >> half a million people set to rally against gun violence in washington, d.c. today.

scores of other marches happening around the country. >> our politicians certainly aren't bringing it so we as an american democratly need to. >> people need to start to stand up for what they believe in. >> it's about every school, movie theater, every community. >> it's a red white and blue issue. it's a public issue that we need to get that through everyone's, like, mind. >> we are the generation that was built on technology. we are all capable of making change. >> this is a lot different than other school shootings. columbine there wasn't social media. newtown, they were so young. so this is the one that will change everything. this generation, my generation, is not willing to sit down and be quiet about the things we believe in. >> our voices will be heard. >> all right, everybody. we have been here since yesterday. we are going to be here all day today. and right now you are watching

what has become a worldwide movement unfolding before our very lives. today you're watching history. check out the scene right here in washington, d.c. at least half a million people, including children, their parents, shooting survivors, they are expected to take part in today's "march for our lives". it is a rally that is demanding an end to gun violence is in the nation's schools. that's just in d.c. more than # 00 rallies are planned in cities and towns not just across america but around the world, including in canada, us rail, new zealand, australia, united kingdom, belgium, japan, india, france, chile. parkland, florida, which you could say is ground zero for this rallying cry, approximately 20 students from marjory stoneman douglas organized this after a mass shooting took the lives of 17 people 39 days ago. their message is clear, enough is enough.

tammy lightner, kerry sanders and savannah sellers are all here. they will be talking to people through the course of the day. tammy, you were one of the first reporters on the scene that tragic day where 17 lives were taken. many more were injured. i remember seeing you the following day. you and i didn't know this would come out of this. unform, we have gotten used to covering these tragedies at schools and thinking after a few weeks of hate, it all dies down. these students have done something magnificent. >> yeah. a ali, it's hard to believe this actually started, what we are seeing here today, with five students from parkland high school. five students that survived that shooting when 17 kids were killed, 17 faculty members and kids were killed. they came together in those days after the shooting at their home and they organized this. they organized what you will be seeing here today.

500,000 kids are expected here today. parents, teachers, students. and this is all because of those kids that calm together for something they believed in. ali, i can tell you there's already several hupbld people out here today. one of those people out here today is angela lincoln. angela, you're a teacher from louisville, kentucky. is and you came out here with about 30 of your students. you guys chartered a bus and drove through the evening. >> yes. >> why is it so important for you to be here with your students today? >> first of all, i'm here because my students wanted to be here. and this was the best way to go. this was a charter bus. we are part of a school that has awe mission to protect all life. and we see this very much as a life issue. so we are here today to try to keep students safe, to keep all people safe. >> angela, you and i have seen many, many shootings in our time that have happened at schools. waoup is thwhy is this one so

different in. >> i have thought a lot about that. i think when sandy hook happened, the kids were too little to speak for themselves. parents didn't want to talk to their elementary schoolchildren about what happened. and i think some of it was silence. but this happened at a high school with some very is smart people, and they are claiming their voice in this. and i'm so excited to see that happening. >> and what are you hearing from your students that you came out here with today? is it excitement? is it anger? what is the tone? >> they're excited more than angry, yes. they see this as potential for the future. they're eager to vote. they're ready to make some changes. and they're in this for the long haul. >> undoubtedly we will be seeing history today in the making. thank you so much for joining us. ali, the one thing that is certain to come out of this today is this will be something for the history books.

no matter what happens here tod today, this will go down in the history books as a day when change happened. some type of change. ali? >> yeah. you can feel it. and i thought that point was really interesting. i remember being at sandy hook and thinking, like i think everything he else was thinking, the change is going to be now. but the children were so strong and parents wanted to protect their children from the fear of being in the first grade and dying at school. so the conversation was more muted. these kids are able to take the message to legislators and the world themselves. i want to bring in kerry sanders. tammy was one of the first on the scene at marjory stoneman douglas high school. you were one of the first to see how these children were channeling their emotion and anger into the potential for change starting in florida with

state legislators. and they had early and good impact. >> you know, it's really surprising. you've got to remember, the kids are not of the age to vote. they're so young. now they have done something that really we have not seen before. they have galvanized a movement in this country that has brought already at this early hour folks out here for this "march for our lives". cop nor made his way all the way here from seattle. why are you here and what is it that happened in parkland that has you feeling connected to these students? >> i'm here just to support these kid, man. we have to change the policy or something. we need to raise the law to 21. we need to do things that keeps hands off weapons and stuff like that. i'm here to support the people. >> do you feel your generation, and i'll step over here. do you feel your generation has the oomph, the momentum to actually make a change? traditionally people in your age

group, you're still teenagers, can actually get somebody who is in authority, luke a lawmaker, to react. >> i feel like we can. us as older teenagers can influence younger teenagers to do the right thing. >> how do you get a lawmaker to listen to you? >> if we all come together we can, like, influence them and hopefully it will have an impact. >> ali, we have actually seen -- thank you. ali, we saw that actually happen in florida where we saw that some of the efforts by the teenagers going to the state capitol there forced a change in the law. you know, the governor of florida, republican who had an a-plus rating from the nra signed a law that raised the purchase of rifles to the age of 21. established new laws on bump stocks. the president tweeting before he left today for florida that he was going to ask the justice department to ban bump stocks for the nation.

no bump stocks were used in parkland, but nonetheless this is what the kids are asking for. in decremental changes. they don't all happen at once. but incremental changes in the gun law. they want to see a ban on a weapon like the ar-15. that will be a tough, uphill battle, ali. >> kerry, we'll be back with you throughout the course of the day. this generation has tools at its disposal, including the passion that they have and how smart they are. they have tools at their dispos disposal. february 14th in that school when the kids had the presence of mind to use their phones to document what was going on. and then to use social media to spread the message to a day we have now where there are more than 800 marches across the world because they're in solidarity. i have spoken to so many of these students the last 39 days

who are using social media, the internet, the imagery as a tool to motivate and bring people together in this unified fight against violence. >> absolutely. and it seems like that's one of the reasons why this time is different. i have been down to parkland a couple times now. these students are creating these video. this #whatif campaign. they are racking up twitter followers, retweets. they are using those tools to get the message out there. they are inspiring kids across the country to come here. i met a bunch of kids from across the country. they were begging their parents, high schoolers, begging their parents to come here for their spring break. we are right here in front of the stage right now, actually. and i drove down here yesterday before it was closed off with one of the stone man douglas kids and he saw the stage for the first time. and he said i can't believe what we did at my school has inspired this.

tons of kids right here. lauren and sophie came all the way from colorado from spring break. 16 and 17, soon to be 18 years old. chose me why you chose this as your spring break. >> i feel the president's unwillingness to change is devastating your future. so i don't use my time-wisely while i'm on this earth, then what is my purpose. >> read your sign to me. >> i can't vote you back in if i'm dead. >> that's powerful. you're 16 years old and writing something like that on a positiver. >> i mean it. i mean it. you're sitting in this classroom and you feel hopeless and scared. but you need to come back around and realize that i have a civil duty to protest when i feel uncomfortable. and that's what our nation is founded upon. it's freedom. and so i'm here to advocate for my live and the lives of my children and their churn.

>> show me yours. i said 17 soon to be 18. >> you month from now i can vote. i will be voting in november. this is how you start change. you can vote yourself. you can't just expect other people to vote for you. >> a lot of people have been talking about how this feels different. does this have to do with this age. you are coming up and you are about to be the vote issers? >> yeah. i think people are -- we're tired. we have lived through connecticut, las vegas, all of those things. we're in a time politically i think where people are very unhappy. and that's not uncommon throughout history. but we have all of these platforms that we can engage people on. >> right. >> so we are using all of that to our advantage and we're creating something amazing i think. >> yeah. like you said, ali, at the beginning of this, it is the tools and platforms that feels like it is part of what's different at this time. >> yeah. that is a very big deal. mark kelly, who was on tv

yesterday, gabby giffords husband, said no one is going to change any laws on monday. but if the one message that gets across is these kids are going to be voters. that cohort doesn't vote in big numbers traditionally. if that changes, if these young people decide they are going to vote on this issue, that is going to have a lot of people interested. on that shot we have on the left of the screen, i was going to ask william, our director, it is hard to see. the sign has been put down. a man is carrying a sign in that crowd and it says be a dick's. it's a reference to dick's sporting goods. this is a company run by second generation owner, ed stack. second amendment supporter. and he made that decision to stop selling weapons to kids under the age of 21 to stop selling automatic rifles to them. it prompted walmart to do more

and other places to do more. the hope is that people are going to support institutions like that, companies that are making a difference. we saw citigroup do it earlier this week. we have seen dick's sporting goods do it. this is part of this movement. these kids and their parents who shop, are going to start to make commercial decisions, consumer decisions to support the companies that are doing the right thing. joining me from parkland, florida is sergio rosenbach. the family is marching today in parkland. sergio, thank you for joining us. tell me why it is so important for your family to take part in today's events. >> because we are participants. she's a survivor. all of us are victims. we have to be here. we have to support each other.

>> sergio, what is it that you believe that alexandra and her classmates are looking for? what does success look like? stricter gun laws, smarter gun laws, something specific, or are they trying to bring attention to this is a movement and they have some power? >> i think it is a combination of things. i think gun law is their priority. attacking attack and assault weapons is their priority. they are smart enough to recognize that they can't bite the whole apple, which is the second amendment. they are smart enough to recognize that people have the right to own guns. they're smart enough to argue that they don't have the right to multiple rounds high velocity weapons. so that's their number one priority. along that, they will develop other thoughts as they develop.

>> sergio, why do you think this has sustained the way it has and gained the momentum that it has? after every other shooting we have seen in the last couple decades, we have not seen a movement development from this group of students in parkland, florida. how has this happened, in your opinion? >> i think we have underestimated our youth, myself included. i think we have looked at them as being imbedded into their social media world looking at their phone and ipads and not approximate speaking to each other. and i think we were all wrong. they are speaking to each other just with a different platform. and they're smart. they're trained. a lot of these kids are debate kids who can understand both sides is of the argument and they argue both sides. and they communicated extremely well. plus, it touched a nerve. in the vietnam war, which i'm not awe veteran of but i'm a

veteran of the time, i didn't want to go fight because my concern was i didn't want to die. these kids don't want to die. they don't want to go to school afraid anymore. so that's their concern. >> yeah. if anybody underestimated them, they will stop underestimating them today. look at this gathering. sergio, thanks for joining us. best wishes to you and your family. sergio rosenblat's daughter is a survivo survivor. since 1999, 187,000 students have experienced and survived a school shooting at 193 schools nationwide. these numbers are staggering. you're watching msnbc's coverage of the historic "march for our

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welcome back to special coverage of the "march for our lives". i'm here in washington, d.c. you're looking at live pictures. these are the students, their families, their supporters, their teachers who are gathering for this march that is getting under way. the term active shooter has been

part of the american lexicon for nearly 20 years now. it has touched all levels of our education system. the horror is so familiar that the they go by just one name. columbine. in 1999, colorado high school students gathered for lunch, walked the halls, studied in the library on a spring day as two teens walked in with an arsenal of guns and explosives. 13 teachers is and students were killed by the gunmen who took their own lives. 21 injured. the nation has never been the same. red lake on a northern minnesota indian reservation in march 2005, a teen killed his grandfather and the grandfather's companion. he strapped on a kevlar desk and drove his grandfather's police cruiser to a local high school and began killing before the gunman killed himself as police approached. virginia tech. almost exactly eight years after the horror at columbine, english

major held students in terror for more than two hours. the gunman moved to an engineering building, chaining the doors to prevent them from escaping. 32 people died and more than a dozen wounded by gunfire before he turned the gun on himself. sandy hook. it's a day that scarred the national conscience. as young children at a connecticut elementary school looked forward to the holidays and winter break, a 21-year-old man killed his mother at home, took her guns, drove across town. the children's day was just beginning when the gunman walked in gunning down 20 kids no older than 7, and six adults. he killed himself in awe first grade classroom as authorities responded. umpqua, a 26-year-old man handed a ub drive containing his manifesto to a student and opened fire.

he killed nine in a humanities building. 7 injured in a shoot-out with police. and parkland. the coastal florida high school when a 19-year-old killed 17, injuring 14 in the latest in a long line of shootings. the suspect awaiting trial but the country is far from closure. joining me is jewel issy bishop. she was evacuated. i have to remind our viewers and the world about what you go through, what these students in all of these stories just read go through. the terror that will, despite how you heal, will live with you for the rest of your lives. tell me what happened that day. >> that day i was sitting in my government class and we were learning about interest groups. my teacher was informing us about how the nra has the most influence among our politicians and how we could possibly be the generation to change that, in

fact. just 20 minutes before the bell rang, the fire alarm started to go off, which was unusual as we had had a drill just earlier that day. we started moving out, following the protocol. we even lined up in the field and stayed still. we were all vulnerable to attack. >> now, you didn't know at that moment? >> we had no idea. we thought it was a drill. we lined up in front of our teacher. then all of a sudden everyone started moving farther downfield, which was abnormal. then we proceeded to follow as crowds do. we just followed everyone walking. and then all of a sudden my friend started to get a text and he told me two people are shot. and i said that's fake. it's not real. i didn't believe it. you thought it was a rumor, just a joke and maybe it was a practice drill and we were doing a code black, code red just for practice. and all of a sudden we started to hear police sirens,

helicopters flying overhead. and i said to myself, it's real. the panic set in immediately. and we were all fighting to exit out from the field. and i ended up jumping a fence in order to evade the crowd and just ran for my life. i didn't know if i was safe or in danger. little did i know that the shooter was aoe vac wraeuting alongside evacuating alongside us. >> everybody has a moment where they realize it's real. they realize they could die. >> yeah. >> what -- when was that moment for you? >> for me, it was when i did hear those sirens and those police. but i didn't think about myself. i immediately thought of my brother. and i said where is daniel? and i texted him, are you okay? where are you? and i was supposed to drive him home. i said where are we going to meet? because i had no idea. and he said this is real. i don't know if i'm going to be okay.

and i said text me new letter of the alphabet, any word, any sentence, just keep texting some to tell me you're going to be alive. and i didn't know if i was ever going to be able to see him. he was right next to the freshman building, which is the 1300 building. >> in that moment, you don't know. you believe there is a gunman around. now you don't know if your brother is safe. >> yes. in fact, he did hear the gunshots. and he didn't know if he was going to be okay. he was trapped in the school, and there was no way for him to get out at that moment until police arrived. >> how long was it before you saw him? >> it was about two hours before i saw him. and every minute i was just paralyzed in fear. >> you're not old enough to know how to deal with that? >> no one is. no one who lost their friends in the shooting, no one who is a parent of the children at sandy hook. no one. no protocol.

that's why it's really just so dramatic for our community to go through this. there's no answer. >> the one answer that might be the case is that there are hundreds of thousands of people here. there will probably be millions around the world who are here to show you their support and to show daniel their support and to sort of protect others from having this happen to them. what does that mean to you? >> it means more than anyone who is marching today could ever imagine. and we wanted to take this grief and pain that we were feeling and try to make a difference out of it. there have been is so many innocent lives taken due to gun violence in this country. and we're, in fact, the only country that deals with this issue on such a dramatic level. and the fact that we're finally standing up to our politicians and telling them this is enough, it means change will happen. >> i spoke to a gun lobbyist everyone who says you're being used as political tools.

>> absolutely not. politicians have approached us and we said the people in the movement have declined their endorsements. because this is the people's movement. and i don't see how a lobbyist can stand up and say that to a survivor of a mass shooting. >> julia, we're glad you're here. we're glad daniel is still with us. we grieve for your 17 classmates and teachers who aren't here. this is in support of them and to honor them. we thank you for the movement that you and your colleagues started. we hope it stays alive. >> absolutely. >> julia bishop is a stone man douglas high school senior. coming up, i will speak to congressman jim himes of connecticut and his daughter. both are participating in today's march. and americans own between 5 and 10 million ar-15s. in most states you can buy it at the age of 18. before you can buy a handgun or a beer. you're watching phpbz's special

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