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The Million Mom March was a rally held on
The Million Mom March was a rally held on Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in th ...
, May 14, 2000 in the Washington, D.C. National Mall
The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...
by the Million Mom March organization to call for stricter gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.
Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with onl ...
. The march reportedly drew an estimated attendance of 500,000 to 750,000 people at the D.C. location, however, "The Park Police estimated turnout for that event at 300,000." Including 150,000 to 200,000 people holding satellite events in more than 70 cities across the country, the total number of participants was about one million.
A counter-rally by the pro-firearm Second Amendment Sisters
Second Amendment Sisters, Inc. (SAS) was a United States women's gun rights advocacy group that supported gun use for self defense and empowerment. According to a 2003 '' Los Angeles Times'' article, SAS was founded in December 1999 by five wom ...
, was also held on the same day and drew approximately 2,500 people.
History
The Million Mom March began as agrassroots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
movement sparked by Donna Dees-Thomases after she viewed broadcast coverage of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting
On August 10, 1999, at around 10:50 a.m. PT, American white supremacist Buford O. Furrow Jr. walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills and opened fire with an Uzi
sub machine gun, firing 70 bullet ...
in Granada Hills, California. In October 1999, she and several Tri-State activists from the New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...
held a news conference in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, where they announced their intent to march in Washington. The march was held on May 14, 2000 to coincide with Mother's Day, with the organization reporting a turnout of 750,000 supporters. Following the event the organization became chapter-based and merged with the victim-led pro-gun control group Bell Campaign. In 2001 the Million Mom March organization merged with the Brady Campaign
Brady: United Against Gun Violence (formerly “Handgun Control, Inc”., the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and again ...
.
On the anniversary of the first march, more than 100 rallies were held across the nation calling for stricter gun laws at the state level. In New York, Republican Governor George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went on ...
joined Democratic U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
in a show of support for stricter gun laws. Turnouts to the second Washington march and to further marches were diminished, with the 2001 march on Washington reporting about 200 in attendance. The group did not plan demonstrations in Washington in 2002 or 2003, instead focusing its efforts in the states.
Debate
Gun rights advocates have routinely challenged the Million Mom March on its use of statistics on child gun casualties with individuals and organizations on both sides of the gun debate either verifying or criticizing the group's data. In 2004,Wendy McElroy
Wendy McElroy (born 1951) is a Canadian individualist feminist and voluntaryist writer. She was a co-founder along with Carl Watner and George H. Smith of ''The Voluntaryist'' magazine in 1982 and is the author of a number of books. McElroy ...
estimated that only 5,732 children under the age of 17 died in gun related deaths, "or roughly 40 percent of what MMM asserts."
An investigation by ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that the incidence of accidental child firearm deaths occur "roughly twice as often as the records indicate" due to idiosyncrasies in how authorities in various states classify these incidents. The report also asserted that the National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...
and other gun rights groups utilize the lower statistics in order to lobby against more restrictive gun laws.
See also
*Culture wars
A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...
*Gun politics in the United States
Gun politics within American politics is defined by two primary opposing ideologies about civilian gun ownership. Those who advocate for gun control support increased regulation of gun ownership; those who advocate for gun rights oppose incre ...
*List of rallies and protest marches in Washington, D.C.
The following is a list of rallies and protest marches in Washington, D.C., which shows the variety of expression of notable political views. Events at the National Mall are located somewhere between the United States Capitol and the Lincoln M ...
*March for Our Lives
March for Our Lives (MFOL) was a student-led demonstration in support of gun control legislation. It took place in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018, with over 880 sibling events throughout the United States and around the world, and wa ...
* Moms Demand Action
References
External links
* {{USgunorgs 2000 protests 2000 establishments in the United States 2000 in Washington, D.C. May 2000 events in the United States Gun control advocacy groups in the United States Organizations established in 2000 Protest marches in Washington, D.C. Women's political advocacy groups in the United States