Moms against guns

WASHINGTON, MAY. 15. Hundreds of thousands of mothers took to the streets of American cities on Sunday to protest against liberal gun laws and to call for restrictions on access to weapons.

Among the huge crowds at the biggest gathering, on the Mall in Washington, were dozens of women who had lost children to accidental shootings or murders, including the mothers of three five-year-old girls killed at Dunblane primary school in Scotland in 1996.

Karen Scott, whose daughter Hannah was shot dead by Thomas Hamilton along with 15 of her classmates and her teacher, addressed a crowd of almost 200,000 gathered for the Million Mom March.

The U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton and his wife, Ms. Hillary, addressed the crowd, saying they would prove to have a stronger voice and a more powerful message for lawmakers in Washington than the gun industry lobby.

The aim of the march - on America's Mother's Day - is to improve the licensing and registration of firearms and to enforce the use of trigger locks rather than attempt to ban the ownership of handguns, as in Britain.

- @ Telegraph Group Limited, London, 2000.

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Section  : International
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