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 Mar ...

, May 14, 2000 in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

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 and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

. 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, was also held on the same day and drew approximately 2,500 people.

History

The Million Mom March began as a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

movement sparked by Donna Dees-Thomases after she viewed broadcast coverage of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting 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 called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

held a news conference in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, 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 against ...

. 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 joined Democratic U.S. Senator

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

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 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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 politics in the United States, gun rights ...

and other gun rights groups utilize the lower statistics in order to lobby against more restrictive gun laws.

References

External links

* {{USgunorgs 2000 protests 2000 establishments in the United States 2000 in Washington, D.C. May 2000 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

History

Debate

See also

References

External links