(Photo Credit: Patrick Semansky, AP)

Hundred Hold Vigil At NRA Headquarters

After two mass shootings devastated the U.S. last weekend, hundreds of people attended a vigil for the victims outside the National Rifle Association’s headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. The NRA is considered the most prominent gun-rights group in the country and lobbies against increased gun control.

Gun-control advocacy groups organized the vigil, called “Vigil for Remembrance and Change.” It was sponsored by March For Our Lives, a group formed by teenage survivors of the school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last year.

“Hundreds of us gathered in front of the NRA’s headquarters to honor the victims from the shootings in El Paso, Dayton and Chicago, and to stand in solidarity with Americans affected by everyday gun violence,” March For Our Lives tweeted.

The NRA said it would not participate in “politicizing” the shooting. However, it did release a statement expressing sympathy for the victims’ families and called for political leaders to address the “root causes” of gun violence, including mental health problems.

“The NRA welcomes the President’s call to address the root causes of the horrific acts of violence that have occurred in our country,” the NRA said in a statement. “It has been the NRA’s longstanding position that those who have been adjudicated as a danger to themselves or others should not have access to firearms and should be admitted for treatment.”