Protesters rally in Midtown to demand stronger gun laws week after deadly shooting

ATLANTA - On Saturday, hundreds of people rallied in Midtown several blocks away from the site of last week's deadly shooting at a Midtown Atlanta's Northside Hospital.

The group, Moms Demand Action, is calling for changes to the gun laws both here in Georgia and throughout the nation.

At the event, a doctor from the medical office where the tragic scene played out spoke publicly for the first time.

"They hoped to feel better," she told the crowd. "But instead, on that day, [patients] left remembering the echoing sounds of gunshots."

Moms Demand Action rally in Midtown. May 13, 2023.

"The collective trauma throughout the whole community is still rippling," said Courtney Spriggs, the deputy Georgia state leader for Moms Demand Action. "It devastates not just the family of Amy St. Pierre, the victim that passed away. The victims that are wounded are likely still in the hospital. The people who treated them are still traumatized."

Saturday's demonstration was part of a national series of events from Moms Demand Action on Mother's Day weekend. They are calling on Congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban.

"We need common sense gun reform," Raquel Howard, who lives in Midtown, not far from the shooting. "People don't need weapons of mass destruction."

"I'm a survivor of gun violence," said James Russell, another person who attended. "I lost my father when I was 15, so I'm here for a reason, and a purpose."

Russell says that purpose isn't just about stopping mass shootings, but instead the entire gun violence epidemic in this country.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, at least 50 people have been killed by gunfire in Metro Atlanta so far this year.

"It happens everywhere now," said Howard. "No one is safe."