“Enough” people chanted, as they gathered Monday outside 11250 Waples Mill Road in Fairfax, Va. — the headquarters of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
It was there that protesters gathered on Feb. 17, 2018, after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., three days earlier.
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And it was there that activists gathered again on Monday, after over 30 people were killed in mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio on the weekend.
Protesters held signs with slogans such as “Gun Reform Now” and “if only ‘thoughts and prayers’ were bulletproof.”
Congresswoman Rep. Jennifer Wexton spoke at the demonstration and said, “I’ve had enough,” WUSA9 reported.
The crowd chanted “enough” in response.
ABC7 reporter Anna-Lysa Gayle — who reported on the protest that took place on the same spot after the Parkland shooting — spoke with two young activists with March for Our Lives, a student-led movement against gun violence.
“We’re here because we’re sick and tired of people dying by guns every single day,” said one activist.
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“The biggest thing is we don’t want to become desensitized to it and lose our presence and just be made to feel helpless, because gun violence prevention efforts have been going on for years,” said another.
Gayle later tweeted, “It’s easy to sense the frustration, the second time around.”
The demonstration concluded with chants of “vote them out” WTOP’s Michelle Basch tweeted.
The El Paso shooting at a Walmart and at Cielo Vista Mall killed 22 people on Saturday, while nine were killed outside a bar in Dayton early Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump blamed a host of factors for the shootings, including video games and mental health.
Research, however, shows that neither goes a long way to explain the rash of mass shootings that the U.S. has seen.
Vox, for example, produced the following chart comparing video-game revenue against violent gun deaths in 10 countries.
The chart shows that, while the United States is the third-highest country for per-person video game revenue, it tops all others for violent gun deaths per 100,000 people by orders of magnitude.
As for mental health, the president of the American Psychological Association (APA) said on Sunday that “routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing.”
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