Demonstrators protesting the US Senate's inaction on gun violence gathered in Washington's McPherson Park on Thursday before marching to the front doors of five lobbying firms that have worked on behalf of the National Rifle Association. The payments those firms received from the NRA in 2012 were displayed on giant novelty checks that demonstrators held up for photo-ops in front of police officers guarding the entrances.
That wasn't the original plan, exactly. The protest's organizers, which included Occupy the NRA, Public Campaign, and CREDO*, had intended to drive a hearse full of caskets to the firms back on April 16. That was the day before the Senate rejected the watered-down background check compromise bill brokered by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). It was also the day after the Boston bombing, after which the organizers decided to postpone the march and tone down the imagery.
They didn't tone it down entirely. Aaron Black, an Occupy the NRA organizer, carried manila envelopes labeled "STOP WORKING FOR THE NRA." They contained two photos of 16-year-old victim Brishell Jones—the first a portrait, the other a graphic image of her in a body bag after she was gunned down with an AK-47 in a drive-by shooting in 2010. Her mother, Nardyne Jefferies, personally delivered one envelope to the lobbying firm Prime Policy Group before departing for work from the protest on Thursday afternoon.
this is good and none to soon, we need these kinds of displays of American discontent when the right tries to do what they say Pres. does "ram this down Americans throats", then proceed to tell Americans what they do want, well they blew it again 90% want them gone out of politics and pass regulations against them and their cohorts.
