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'We have to stand up': Thousands gather across Portland metro for March For Our Lives rallies

In downtown Portland, hundreds marched through the streets to demand meaningful gun reforms.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Nationwide, thousands of people gathered on Saturday for March For Our Lives rallies in hundreds of cities across America, calling for more meaningful action when it comes to gun violence and gun control — a refrain redoubled after the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas.

There were several local demonstrations, including one rally that took place in downtown Portland on Saturday.

"Following the Uvalde and the Buffalo shootings ... that just really struck a chord with me because, especially in the Uvalde shooting, it was kids who are younger than my little brother getting shot and killed," said student organizer Athena Hsu-Chen. "When March For Our Lives called for marches nationwide, I immediately wanted to join and try and lead the Portland chapter."

Despite other events like the Grand Floral Parade happening in town Saturday morning, hundreds gathered at Portland State University Urban Plaza before marching through the streets to Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Several people, including Paul Kemp, got up to speak to the crowd. His brother-in-law Steve Forsyth was killed in the 2012 Clackamas Town Center shooting, just three days before the Sandy Hook mass shooting. 

"We’ve passed a lot of good laws here in the state of Oregon, but they’ve been incredibly tough to get passed," he said. "I don’t understand when it’s a fairly simple and clear-as-day argument — we have to improve things because clearly what the country has been doing, what the states have been doing, isn’t enough."

Demonstrators voiced support for increasing the minimum age to buy semi-automatic weapons, spreading red-flag laws, expanding universal background checks and launching a national gun buy-back program.

"It is essential for youth to join this movement," said Hsu-Chen. "Youth leading the movement shows that we really care, and we care for our own lives. We just cannot let all of these shootings become the status quo."

Portland's march was certainly the largest, but it was not the only March For Our Lives gathering in Oregon. Events took place in Sherwood, Beaverton and Eugene, among other cities.

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