On Sunday, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators announced a framework for potential new legislation on gun safety. Although many criticize the proposal as lacking tougher measures, advocate Mariah Cooley says this is a vital first step toward better gun safety laws in the country.
this is bbc news, our top story: hundreds of marches are being held across the united states to pressure congress into making changes to gun laws, following a spate of mass shootings. let s stay with that now. mariah cooley is a board member of march for our lives. she was at the protests in washington and my colleague lukwesa burak asked her why she believed this time would be different. this time is different because it is different. look at what is going on across the nation. today, we had over a50 marches across 46 states, and then here in dc, rain or shine we had 40,000 people come out today. not only that, but preparing for after today, we have a meeting with republicans, democrats, gun owners, people who were previous supporters of the nra, to ask them what can we agree
on and how can we come together in this moment to end gun violence? ultimately, it is the gun lobby that have the power, isn t it, mariah? so how do you get them to change? because that would mean losing money. well, that is the thing. those in congress need to ask themselves, do they value money over our lives? and if they value money over our lives, then we need to vote them out in the upcoming election. do you think there has been a significant shift in the way the american public think? because we have heard the threats, haven t we, that they are going to get those senators who are not listening out of office if there isn t any change that takes place. absolutely. americans are tired of sending their children, their siblings, their cousins off to school fearing that they will be victims of another mass shooting. elders can t even go to a grocery store with the safety of knowing that they won t be a victim of a violent attack. i think all americans are sick and tired because america
in the state of florida? absolutely. not only the state of florida but we have passed over 150 state level gun violence prevention laws across the nation in states such as florida, colorado, virginia, and more. so, we have made a lot of great movement these past four years but what we need to do is at congress level, make sure that across the nation, we have something that is saving our lives because we needed now than ever. mariah, i wonder if you could give us a little bit of an insight. i read a quote that said that, you know, the senate is where substantive action goes to die. what exactly is the problem with congress, with gun reform? the problem with congress is people are investing money into the gun lobby and receiving money from the gun lobby for their campaign, and they are valuing that more than american lives. and as long as they continue to value that more than american lives, it will be my duty to make sure that they are voted out because they do not
something about it, we will continue to die every single day. there have been over 200 mass shootings in this year alone. and americans recognise that this is just an american problem. this is an american public epidemic. and so with over 90% of americans agreeing to something such as universal background checks, this is a great step to ending gun violence. why are you involved with march for our lives, mariah? yes. in 2017, i lost my cousin due to gun violence in my home town in illinois. and it is in a place that is un used to gun violence, especially gang violence. and black and brown people disproportionately deal with gun violence so i knew that it was important to be, as a black woman, at the forefront of this movement, because it is bigger than just mass shootings, it is that every day, inner city community gang violence that we need to address. ok, now, back in 2018, that was the starting point for march for our lives, the terrible shooting that took place in florida. there wer