Gun-Reform Activists Rally Near NRA Convention in Houston

Storyful
1

Protesters rallied for gun reform on May 27 close to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, where the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual convention was being held three days after school shooting in Uvalde, south Texas.

In the wake of the shooting, during which a gunman with an AR-15 killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, gun-control advocates were again calling on lawmakers to take measures to limit gun access. Credit: Sophia Beatriz Saenz via Storyful

Video Transcript

[CHEERS]

- Gun violence affects each and every one of us. From the children of Uvalde, to the people in Buffalo, New York, to the Black trans-women that are murdered every single year.

[CHEERS]

You're going to hear a lot of points of view today but the main thing is we need to remember who we need to organize against. And that is those people in there.

[CHEERS]

- Can I get everybody who is an adult to step to the side. Do you all see what I see behind me? Give them a round of applause.

[APPLAUSE]

[INAUDIBLE]

[APPLAUSE]

These are the people who we need to teach everything we know so they can carry the torch that we're burning right now.

[APPLAUSE]

Tell them thank you.

- Thank you.

- Tell them you love them.

- We love you.

- Because we do. I don't even know where to begin. All I can think about is the beautiful girls I met from Santa Fe High School right here in Houston, Santa Fe area. Some of them are here today. And I wonder like, how many of you have been affected by gun violence, raise your hand. Don't be scared and it's OK if you don't. But recognize that the purpose for this event is to call out the violence that happened this week against the marginalized community and against our fellow Texans. We have a governor that says don't mess with Texas but he's not living up to the standard principle of what that means.

[APPLAUSE]

We demand justice.

- Yeah.

- And when we say don't look away it means that we look them in the eye and let them know that what they are doing is hurting us. they have blood on their hands.

- Yeah.

- They legislate through murder.

- Yeah.

- I'm pissed.

- Yeah.

- Excuse my language, babies, if you all heard that. Just cover your ears. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Let's talk about this. Those of you who have raised your hands. This is a community that [INAUDIBLE] Black Lives Matter Houston believes in hearing from the people who are directly affected. This is what building space is. So if you raise your hand I need you to line up on the side over here because we want to hear from you. Yes, we have speakers. Yes, I know some of you are here to see Beto.

[CHEERS]

Right?

- Yeah.

- But before you get to see Beto you get to see the people who really need to talk to the press. The people who have had violence perpetuated on them. Isn't that what we're here for?

- Yeah.

- Isn't that what we are here for?

- Yeah.

- No justice.

- No peace.

- No justice.

- No peace.

- Line up on the side. Make sure you get water. is Bishop Dixon here? Is David here? Is David here? Come on through, bro. David Hogg

- Wow.

- David Hogg.

- Yeah.

- We don't pay attention to hecklers. We shout them out.

[CHEERS]

- Mr. David Hogg. [INAUDIBLE]

DAVID HOGG: I'm here to say our movement is stronger than ever before. We are stronger than ever before because we have turned out and voted again, and again, and again, and again. We have turned down since before Columbine and we have been preparing for decades with millions of people across the country that have been impacted by gun violence to work against this. In 2018, when I walked out there. When I was on TV and after the unimaginable happened I said, we're the kids. You are the adults. You need to do something.

[APPLAUSE]

And now we're the adults. We need to do something.

[APPLAUSE]

My message to every single one of you right now is I need you to do a couple of things. One, persist. Do not give up.

[APPLAUSE]

Because of the work that we have done in the four years since March For Our Lives and the work that had been done in the decades prior to that, especially by Black and Brown women who are the veterans of the gun violence prevention movement.

[APPLAUSE]

And have laid the groundwork for us to come to this point. We now have the most pro-gun violence prevention Senate, House, and White House ever in American history.

[APPLAUSE]

But that's not enough. That's not enough. We have to hold them accountable and get through the filibuster.

- Yeah.

DAVID HOGG: We need to go out there and demand that they act. I need every single person that's watching this either at home or listening to me right now to show up at your senator's office over this recess. Every single day that you can, show up and demand that they have a vote with background checks, and red flag laws, and everything else.

[APPLAUSE]

Now I--