Background
Following the event, the Million Mom March participants became a chapter-based organization to promote restrictions on the private ownership of firearms in state legislatures, merging with a victim led organization called the Bell Campaign, but keeping the name Million Mom March as the new organization.
The group Donna Dees-Thomases founded stated their beliefs as:
"All Americans have the right to be safe from gun violence in their homes, neighborhoods, schools, and places of work and worship. All children have the right to grow up in environments free from the threat of gun violence. Gun violence is a public health crisis that harms not only the physical, but also the spiritual, social, and economic health of our families and communities. The availability and lethality of guns make death or severe injury more likely in domestic violence, criminal activity, suicide attempts, and unintentional shootings. It is possible to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by gun violence with reasonable, common sense policy."
The organization is opposed to various semi-automatic firearms being legal and is opposed to the agenda of the National Rifle Association and other gun rights and sportsmen's groups. Since 2001 they have been affiliated with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The Million Mom March, which started as one of the largest protest marches on Washington, presently has a national network of 75 local chapters around the U.S...
Even though the 2000 march may have approached the 1 million mark when events in other cities were taken into account, the enthusiasm didn't last long. According to a Reuters account of the 2001 Million Mom March event, barely 200 people showed up for the Washington rally.
The group didn't plan demonstrations in Washington in 2002 or 2003, instead focusing its efforts in other states. The 2004 rally has been in the works since May 2003, according to the Million Mom March website.
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