AUSTIN, Texas — Hundreds of people gathered in Austin and across the nation for the “March For Our Lives” rally.

The rally is meant to raise gun violence awareness after a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school. Since that shooting, students have walked out of schools across the country, urging lawmakers to take action and pass stricter gun laws.

 

 

Hitting the pavement, thousands of students and their families marched for change Saturday afternoon.

The "March for Our Lives" protest was part of a bigger nationwide movement mobilizing people in hundreds of cities across the country in honor of the Parkland shooting, which left 17 students dead and 17 others wounded.

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"I was really scared and not just for myself or my classmates, but for classmates across the entire United States," said organizer Kari Siegenthaler.

Siegenthaler started planning the march after the uneasy feeling of returning to school, wondering if it would be the next site of a massacre.

 

 

To these students, the march carries a simple message: demanding that their lives be a top priority to lawmakers.

"I hope that we can get something done before something horrible like this happens again," said 13-year-old student Harper Wells.

Nancy Laussade, a grandmother from Georgetown, came out to show support and make up for her inaction after Columbine.

"It's time to be an example that we aren't powerless. We can do something," said Laussade.

 

 

"I stand before you all, right here, right now to say that we are the change we never knew we needed and we have found the strength we never knew we were looking for," said Jack Haimowitz, a Parkland survivor and speaker at the event.

A survivor of Sandy Hook and Matthew McConaughey were also guest speakers.

The mayor of Houston told thousands of demonstrators at a “March for Our Lives” rally that adults have a responsibility to protect all children. Mayor Sylvester Turner spoke at the Tranquility Park event Saturday morning, one of several anti-gun rallies being held across the U.S. on Saturday in response to last month’s school shooting in Florida and other mass shootings.