Hundreds of thousands of people around the world joined March for Our Lives rallies to push for gun reform. Philadelphia students attended the biggest rally which took place in Washington, D.C.
Hundreds of thousands across the country and around the world took rallied Saturday in support of March for Our Lives, a student-led movement to bring about gun reform in the wake of the deadly shooting at a Florida high school.
The main march was taking place in Washington, D.C., but there were more than 800 sibling marches on March 24.
One of these marches took place in Philadelphia, and local students helped plan it.
By 10:45 a.m., thousands were marching from Independence Mall in Old City, along Market Street and Columbus Boulevard, to a large gathering just south of Penns Landing.
"This is such an important movement because it's literally the lives of our nation's children at stake," said Rachel Steinig, an 18-year-old University of Pennsylvania freshman and one of the organizers of the Philadelphia march and rally.
She said she was inspired to help organize the event after watching some of the Parkland shooting survivors' speeches and she hopes the march will lead to legislative change.
"Children should be safe when they go to school, they shouldn't have to worry about people coming and killing them," Steinig said. "That's something people can get behind from all political parties. Everyone wants our children to be safe. This is a movement that really transcends party and transcends ideology and is something that can bring us all together."
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The Philadelphia rally included student leaders, parents, professors, shooting survivors, elected officials and performers.
One of these performers was Devontay Crawford, an 18-year-old high school senior.
"I will be performing a song about the Florida shooting. Basically it's telling people to put the guns down, stop the violence," Crawford said. "I think kids my age are getting involved with this because it pertains to them. We are getting killed every day and it's not going to stop unless we send this message."
Graduates and parents of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where the shooting took place, also attended the Philadelphia rally.
"I kept thinking this can't be my high school," said Rebecca Salus, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas alum.
Mark Timpone told NBC10 his son is a student at the school who ran up the stairs as the gunman reloaded during the shooting.
"If there was one more round in that 30 round magazine, my son would have died that day," Timpone said.
Students who attended the Philadelphia rally say they will continue to pressure elected leaders for gun reform. Some of the students will also be old enough to vote by November's elections.
Along with Philadelphia's march, there were also several March for Our Lives sibling marches in the area on Saturday, including West Chester where comedian and former 'The Tonight Show' host Jay Leno attended to show his support.
- Media March for Our Lives Walk/Run (Media, Pa.)
- March for Our Lives: West Chester (West Chester, Pa.)
- March for Our Lives Norristown PA (Norristown, Pa.)
- Doylestown March for Our Lives (Doylestown, Pa.)
- March for Our Lives Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Pa.)
- Pottstown March for Our Lives (Pottstown, Pa.)
- Audubon Haddon Heights Area March for Our Lives (Audubon, NJ)
- March for Our Lives - Princeton NJ (Princeton, NJ)
- March for Our Lives - OCNJ (Ocean City, NJ)
- March for Our Lives - Wilmington (Wilmington, De.)
- March for Our Lives - Lewes, DE (Lewes, De.)
