Abortion-Rights PAC Staffers Behind Push for Gun-Control 'Million Kid March' on DC

Gun-control activists are facing a challenge to stay in the headlines, competing with everything from budget sequestration to immigration reform.

The latest effort by gun-control activists is a million-kids march on Washington. Originally thought to be slated for Feb. 17, organizers indicated in the event page’s comment section they’re looking for a new date.

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Planners indicated in a January blog post they want the march to be “just prior to any gun safety legislation being considered by Congress, so our march can have maximum influence on the debate.”

Last week, supporters were told that the march is tentatively scheduled for May.

“Our effort at that time will be focused on showing the House that we will not allow them to recess for summer without instituting the meaningful and common-sense changes in gun control law that the majority of our nation agree with and demand,” wrote volunteer organizer Kristen Pettit. “We are forging alliances with important collaborators to ensure that our march will have the greatest impact. And we promise, though May seems far from now, the wait will be short and worthwhile and our march will have great effect.”

Organizers say they’re seeking a “cultural change” on guns, and on the chosen march participants, “Who could say no to a million kids?”

“Participating in the MKM offers kids the experience of a lifetime, empowering a generation to engage and take action around the issues they care about,” organizers pitch. “The MKM is a potential win-win on every front: political, legislative, cultural, educational.”

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Two of the founders of the Million-Kids March idea are Jen Bluestein, communications director at EMILY’s List, and Emily Lockwood, new media director at EMILY’s List, a PAC that soley supports women candidates who back abortion rights.

The director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns said Congress needs to fast-track gun control even while acknowledging “you will never stop all of the shootings.”

“Of course I think we should expect things to be faster,” Mark Glaze said for the 650-mayor group on MSNBC. “The only way that’s gonna happen is if the American people continue to do what they’ve been doing since Newtown and before, which is calling a member of Congress and writing a member of Congress, making sure they know this is a front-burner issue for them, and as long as 33 Americans are murdered with guns every day none of us is moving fast enough.”

He said making the background check system more stringent is “the single biggest thing you can do to get a handle on the gun problem in the country.”

“It is not a complete solution. You will never stop all of the shootings. We’re also supporting a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban and a limit on rounds of ammunition magazines can carry. Those are all part of the picture,” Glaze said.

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“For a long time the NRA has been the only game one in town and their electoral strength was vastly exaggerated,” the career strategist added. “Back in November they spent more than $100,000 on only seven Senate races; they lost in six of those. But when you are the only game in town on the electoral side, members of Congress have a real struggle doing what most of them want to do, which is keep their streets safe.”

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