Gun Control Activists Hold Vigil Outside NRA Headquarters

Following the mass shootings over the weekend in El Paso and Dayton, gun control activists held a candlelight vigil outside the National Rifle Association’s headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia on Monday night, WTOP reported.

At the demonstration, which was organized by several groups calling for stricter gun control legislation, many protestors held signs demanding “Keep the NRA out of Congress” and “Your 2nd Amendment rights are killing us!” There were others at the demonstration who held up glow-in-the-dark letters that spelled the words “GUN REFORM NOW.”

The vigil included readings of the names of victims and moments of silence in their memory.

“Our government is broken,” said Kevin Bergen, a member of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Brady Campaign, which has held monthly demonstrations outside the NRA ever since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton, Connecticut in 2012. “[Congress is on] vacation now. They should be back here legislating.”

Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who represents Virginia’s 10th District, attended the vigil, saying that “We cannot give up. We cannot relent. We cannot get exhausted by this. We cannot be beaten down by this, because we are stronger than the gun lobby and we will prevail.”

As the event came to a conclusion, attendees were encouraged to vote, and some in the crowd began chanting: “Vote them out!”

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