'No more silence': Hundreds rally in Toronto for tighter U.S. gun controls

Hundreds of students, parents descended in Toronto for the March For Our Lives rally to show solidarity with the growing U.S. gun control movement in the wake of last month's mass school shooting.

The Toronto rally got underwayat10 a.m. Saturday at Nathan Phillips Square, where demonstrators began the 1.5-kilometre marchto Queen's Park calling for tighter gun laws in the states.

"My path to education is quite literally being trumped by fear of being shot at everyday I go to school and I don't know if I'll come home," Henry Dryden told CBC Toronto.

Along the way, organizers held a moment of silence in front of the U.S. consulate for the14 students and three staff members ofMarjoryStonemanDouglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who were killed on Valentine's Day.

Dryden, a 16-year-old student at MarjoryStonemanDouglasHigh School, explainedgun control is abroken system that leaves students living in "fear" and vulnerable.

"We've had students bringing knives to school because we don't know what will happen to us next," he said. "I can't stress enough just how worried I am about being in American in general."

Their deaths have reignited public anger over mass shootings and sparkeda groundswell of protest throughout the U.S. organized by some of the students who were at the school that day.

"We've come together as a huge community after this," said Dryden.

"No more silence, end gun violence,"members oftheCommunities for Zero Violence, which organized the Toronto rally, chanted as they marched north along University Avenue in the city's downtown area."The time for change is now."

Family and friends whose lives have been touched by gun violencemade their voices heardin the shadow of Ontario's legislature about the matter of firearm control in the U.S.They explained while it's not as prevalent of an issue inCanada it still exists and needs to be addressed.

"It's not just America's problem," said Toronto student Colin Monahan.

The shooting death of an innocent bystanderat a North York bowling alley last weekend and thedeath ofNnamdi Ogbalast Friday was at the forefront of the conversation.

Ruma Amar, 29, was shot at the front entrance of Playtime Bowl and Entertainment while standing near the intended target on March 18, police said.

A day earlier, Ogba, a26-year-old electrical engineer, was fatally shot in the back several timesinEtobicoke after being at a friends house. According to police, Ogbawas walking towards his parked car when two men approached him from behind him and shot him.

"We haven't done enough to prevent these crimes and these weapons," Monahansaid of Canada's gun control laws.

The Torontoprotestcoincidedwith at least 16 rallies planned in otherCanadian cities, from coast-to-coast.

More than 800demonstrations were scheduled worldwide, according to American gun-control groupEverytownFor Gun Safety. This includeda March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., where hundreds of thousands of Americans aimed to break through a legislativegridlock that has long stymiedefforts to tighten firearm controls.

Mass shootings at American schoolsand colleges have become a regular occurrence.

According to Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit tracking gun violence incidents, there have been 49mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone. The organization defines mass shootings as fouror more shot or killed, not including the shooter.