By: Jarrett Stepman – dailysignal.com – March 24, 2018

Tens of thousands of protesters—and maybe more—gathered in Washington, D.C., and around the country Saturday to protest in favor of gun control.

The demonstrations, called the March for Our Lives, featured children calling for an end to gun violence and ultimately stricter gun control laws.

The Daily Signal hit the streets to observe the event and see what it was all about.

The following are my observations from walking through the crowd and assessing its common themes.

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1) A Left-Wing Movement

It may seem painfully obvious, but it is worth noting the march in Washington was clearly a left-wing protest.

As Julie Gunlock at The Federalist noted, some parents were led to believe that the March 14 National School Walkout would be about memorializing victims of the Parkland shooting. It wasn’t.

“The real mission of the walkout is to demand Congress pass more restrictive gun laws,” Gunlock wrote.

This goal was even more obvious at the March for Our Lives.

Gun control is certainly associated with the modern left, but it’s clear from observing the protesters that many were involved with other left-wing movements.

The pink hats from the 2017 Women’s March made a widespread reappearance, as did numerous anti-Trump or generally anti-Republican signs.

The crowd was certainly not a representative slice of what the country as a whole thinks about gun control, nor did it represent the opinions of most young Americans.

As The Daily Signal recently reported, polls show that millennials are no more in favor of gun control than their parents or grandparents.

2) Well-Organized and Well-Funded

This was certainly one of the largest gatherings I’ve seen in Washington, D.C., and one of the most highly organized.

Clearly, staff from a huge number of activist pro-gun control organizations showed up, as would be expected, but there were also people on almost every street corner trying to register people to vote.

People carried signs from gun control groups, such as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Undoubtedly, many people from around the country came to the protest out of a sincere belief that they were making a positive difference to end violence, but there’s also no doubt that a huge amount of professional organization and money went into this march.

A series of Hollywood celebrities funded the march, including Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg, and others.

As BuzzFeed reported, a litany of leftist organizations and politicos got involved, including the George Soros-backed MoveOn.org, Women’s March LA, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and, curiously, Planned Parenthood.

There were certainly many children present, but there’s no way they could have put this all together on their own. Outside help and organization was apparent.

3) Prayer Is Out

The March for Our Lives protesters were seemingly not fans of prayer.

Many protesters specifically condemned the act of offering prayers in the wake of shootings, pitting it against political action. Political action is often important, but it was strange to see so many signs specifically aimed at condemning prayer.

In the wake of the Parkland shooting, liberal calls to action have centered on banning guns. But such calls have neglected other serious issues relating to school shootings that have nothing to do with firearms, including the way America deals with the mentally ill.

Another issue is how federal and local policies have let dangerous people, like the Parkland shooter, slip through the cracks. Often the problem is not with a lack of laws, but a failure to enforce the laws that already exist.

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Source: I Went to the March for Our Lives Protest. Here Are My 7 Takeaways.