Activists and community leaders gather in cities and towns across the country for a national day of protest against illegal gun and corrupt gun dealers.

On August 28, thousands of activists from more than 25 cities and towns across America held a national day of protest to focus attention on corrupt gun dealers and the scourge of illegal gun trafficking. The date was the 44th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic March on Washington.

The Brady Campaign with its network of Million Mom March Chapters organized local events, along with Protest Easy Guns activists, state group leaders, and other allied organizations, in support of the efforts of Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition to draw attention to our nation’s epidemic of gun violence.

Watch video and see photos from the August 28th events.

Among the activities on the 28th were:

• In District Heights, Maryland, local leaders marched, rallied, and listened to speakers outside a gun dealership that has sold hundreds of guns later traced to crimes according to Federal gun trace data.
• In Newark, New Jersey, which has suffered terrible high-profile teenaged shootings recently, Mayor Cory Booker joined faith leaders and community activists at an evening protest and speeches at Ivy Hill Park.
• In Philadelphia, in addition to a a noontime rally and a community forum, 32 individuals laid down to honor the 32 murder victims in America every day and lament the ease of access to guns in America. Similarly, in Portland, Maine, concerned citizens staged a lie-in to express the group’s outrage over the ease of access to firearms in the U.S. and in Maine. Additional lie-ins were held in Raleigh, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Richmond/San Pablo, Calif., and Springfield, Ill.
• Rev. Jackson joined Chicago area leaders at a protest in Barrington, Ill. and a Rainbow PUSH sponsored rally in Harlem featured local activists and community speakers.
• The Twin Cities started the day with anti-violence coalition breakfast and rally.
• In Duluth, Minnesota, a protest and bell ringing was held on the steps of City Hall in Duluth.
• In Dallas, a march that attracted hundreds began at the Martin Luther King, Jr. statue on Martin Luther King Boulevard and led to a rally at the Warren United Methodist Church.
• In Houston, the protest was a “freeway blog” at 5 PM on the Montrose Bridge. Signs were displayed to rush hour traffic crossing the bridge.
• In addition, Denver activists organized a silent vigil to protest recent shootings; in Evanston, Ill., there was a press conference with a back-to-school message; Ewing, N.J. had a kick-off BBQ for Operation Ceasefire; in Phoenix, there was a candlelight vigil at the Arizona state capitol; a candlelight vigil was also held outside Bakersfield, Calif.; and San Diego had a community forum on illegal guns.

On August 28, 2007, volunteers around the nation came out to make it clear that there are steps we can take to fight gun violence in our communities. We applaud the efforts of Rev. Jackson, and all the volunteer activists across the country who worked hard to make their voices heard on this day.

Photos from the Across the Country
Click one of the images below to view the slideshow. Use your left and right arrow keys to move from one image to the next.

Rev. Jackson and Father Pfleger join a local pastor and the mother of a local shooting victim in prayer at the event in Barrington, Illinois.

Brady President Paul Helmke and Kimberly Marcus of Rainbow PUSH lead the marching at the protest in District Heights, Maryland.

Brady President Paul Helmke is flanked by local activists and Million Mom March Chapter Leaders from Newark and New York City, including Newark organizer Asyah Aquil and Million Mom March founder, Donna Dees-Thomases.

Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson speaks out against gun violence at a bell ringing ceremony for victims on the steps of City Hall while members of the Northland Million Mom March Chapter and other local activists look on.

Kids gather at the Mercer County Million Mom March Chapter's table at the kick-off BBQ for Operation Ceasefire in Ewing, New Jersey.

Organizer of the Twin Cities Lie-ins, Deseria Galloway, holds the hand of a Minneapolis teenager as she calls on the assembled crowd of 150 to act as a community to stops gun violence.

Mary Johnson, founder of "From Death to Life: Two Mothers," speaks at the Minneapolis rally. Mary calls her organization "Two Mothers" because there are two mothers who lose their sons after gun violence occurs -- one to a grave and one to prison.

Dallas City Council Members speak at the Dallas Rally Against Gun Violence.

Members of the D.C. Million Mom March Chapter protest in front of a gun store whose guns end up being used in crime.

Lucia, with the D.C. Million Mom Chapter, marches with activists from Rainbow PUSH outside the Realco Gun Shop in District Heights, Maryland.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, an early signer to the Mayoral resolution to stop illegal gun trafficking, speaks at the Twin Cities event.

Activist from the Twin Cities participate in a "lie-in" protest of 32 people, representing the 32 people who are murdered every day in America.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Brady President Paul Helmke at the Rally in Newark.

Three Newark faith leaders add prayers and spiritual insights at the Newark event.

Rainbow PUSH Activists join the march, protest, and rally at gun dealer outside of Washington, D.C.

U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress, speaks to the crowd in Minneapolis.

Watch Video from Various August 28 Events
Click one of the images to view speeches from August 28th rallies.

Click on the thumbnails to see graphic explanations of the problem of illegal gun trafficking in the USA:	How Congress has Allowed Illegal Guns to Flood America. The Campaign Against Illegal Guns Overview.	Bad Apple Dealers Victimize our Cities	Criminals and the Gun Dealers Who Arm Them
The Deadly Circle of Gun & Drug Trafficking	1.7 Million Crime Guns	Percent of Gun Dealers Responsible for Crime Guns	Top Five Crime Gun Dealers in America

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Extend Brady Background Checks To All Gun Sales To Curb Illegal Sales Large-Volume Gun Sales: The Illegal Gun Trafficker's Best Friend Strengthening Law Enforcement's Tools To Crack Down on Corrupt Gun Dealers and Curb Illegal Gun Trafficking Fighting the Problem of Illegal Guns in the States

Regulating Guns in America Guns and Terror: How Terrorists Exploit Our Weak Gun Laws Smoking Guns: Exposing the Gun Industry's Complicity in the Illegal Gun Market The Legal Action Project: related articles and important cases A Focused National Strategy to Address the Scourge of Illegal Guns

Editorial: Handgun rationing (Trenton Times) US makes it easy for gun traffickers: Mexican drug cartels get arms up north, where watchdog agency is short-staffed (Arizona Daily Star) Editorial: Mayors take aim on illegal guns (Philadelphia Inquirer) Editorial: Death and American Guns in Mexico (New York Times) U.S. Guns Fueling Mexican Drug Violence (Washington Independent)

Which Gun Dealers Contribute The Most To The Illegal Market? (Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence) Selling Crime: High Crime Gun Stores Fuel Criminals (Americans for Gun Safety Foundation) Buying a handgun for someone else: firearm dealer willingness to sell (UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California) Relationship between licensing, registration, and other gun sales laws and the source state of crime guns (Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins University) Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearms Traffickers (Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms)