FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2013
For More Information Contact:
Patti Hassler
Vice President of Communications and Outreach
202-662-3554 office
phassler@childrensdefense.org
President, Children’s Defense Fund to Speak on Need to Protect Children, Not Guns
Washington, D.C. – Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, will join the silent march on the National Mall on Saturday, January 26, along with thousands, to call on members of Congress and state legislators to pass common sense gun safety laws. Grassroots groups of concerned citizens are coming together in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Ct. including parents, pastors, gun violence survivors, law enforcement officers, elected officials, child advocates and others who want what most Americans want.
Most Americans, according to a new Gallup poll, support universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds or less along with other proposals from President Obama’s Plan to Reduce Gun Violence which aligns with the Children’s Defense Fund’s Federal Policy Agenda: Ensure Every Child a Safe Start.
Newtown residents, the District of Columbia’s Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent Gray, Councilmembers David Grosso, Kenyan McDuffie and Tommy Wells and Marian Wright Edelman will lead the march carrying a banner that reads, “When we stand together, we stand a chance.”
Speakers Include:
- Marian Wright Edelman, president, Children’s Defense Fund
- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (Washington, D.C.)
- U.S. Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
- The Very Rev. Dean Hall, Washington National Cathedral
- Rev. Dean Snyder, senior pastor, Foundry United Methodist Church, Washington, D.C.
- Rev. Delman Coates, Ph.D., senior pastor, Mt. Ennon Baptist Church, Clinton, Md.
- Virginia Tech massacre survivor Colin Goddard
- Shannon Watts, founder of One Million Moms for Gun Control
- Meghana DeSale, Northeast regional director, Doctors for America
- Marty Isaac, president, Connecticut Against Gun Violence
- Kathleen Turner, Hollywood actress
When: Saturday, January 26, 2013
10:00 a.m. – Marchers will gather at the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool east of Third Street, NW, across from the National Museum of the American Indian.
11:00 a.m. – Silent march along Constitution Avenue to the Washington Monument.
Web: http://staging.childrensdefense.org/campaigns/protect-children-not-guns/