Families of children killed by gun violence lay 7,000 pairs of shoes outside US Capitol

Thousands of pairs of shoes have been laid on the lawn outside the US Capitol in Washington DC this week in protest at the huge scale of children killed by gun violence in America.

The shoes represent the 7,000 children who have lost their lives in shootings since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

Avaaz, a global advocacy organisation, planned the visual memorial to honour the victims and demonstrate in favour of gun control reform.

The shoes were donated by family members of victims, as well as protesters and celebrities, including Alyssa Milano, Susan Sarandon and Bette Midler.

“Avaaz will bring the heartbreak of gun violence to Congress’ doorstep,” the organisation’s website reads.

“Guns kill over 1,300 American kids a year according to the CDC. The Parkland shooting was the 17th school shooting just this year.”

In February, 17 people were killed when shooter Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

It was the deadliest US school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012.

Tom Mauser, the father of a teenage boy killed in the Columbine school shooting in 1999, attended the visual protest outside the Capitol building on Tuesday.

“I’ll be travelling to DC literally wearing my son Daniel’s shoes, the ones he wore the day he died at Columbine,” he told Avaaz ahead of the demonstration.

“I think this kind of event with shoes offers a very powerful metaphor both for how we miss the victims who once filled those shoes, and also for how we see ourselves wanting to walk in their place, seeking change, so that others don’t have to walk this painful journey.”

Emma Ruby-Sachs, deputy director of Avaaz, said in a statement: “The culture on guns is shifting and we can all feel it.

“Students are walking out of their schools, survivors are marching in the streets, and parents are here on the Capitol to honour the children we’ve lost and make a clear demand: not one more gun death.”

In the wake of the Florida shooting in February, state governors signed a new school safety bill that will allow some school teachers to carry guns.

The legislation also raises the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21 and bans bump stocks, devices which allow guns to mimic automatic fire.

Just hours after the legislation was passed, the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced plans to sue the state of Florida, claiming the new legislation “totally eviscerates the right of law-abiding citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 to keep and bear arms”.

The NRA claims the ban is “particularly offensive with respect to young women” as women are less likely to engage in violent crime than “older members of the general population who are unaffected by the ban”.

President Donald Trump vowed to take action to prevent gun crime at schools following the Parkland shooting, but later said there is “not much political support” for raising the minimum age to purchase certain guns, a measure he has previously backed.