As the NRA plowed forward with its convention in Houston, just days after 19 elementary school children were mowed down in Uvalde, Texas, thousands of Americans, including Beto O’Rourke and David Hogg stood outside to express their outrage.

From The Guardian:

One group, holding wooden crosses for each of the Uvalde victims and wheeling a child-size coffin, split off from the main group to march around the park. “Protect our kids,” they shouted, “not guns.”

A small child in pink shorts and tiny sneakers stood in the middle of the crowd with a handmade sign: “Protect us.”

A rally with speakers began around noon outside the Houston convention center with a moment of silence. Overhead, a plane carried a banner: “NRA GO AWAY.”

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace pointed out that what went on outside the NRA convention probably got more attention than what happened inside.

The protesters seem to “feel the wind at their back,” reporter Shaquille Brewster said, even though they’ve felt that same way after other mass shootings, only to be disappointed by the lack of action. But they are persevering regardless. Brewster reported passionate verbal confrontations, nothing physical, between the protesters and the NRA convention goers.

But the gun lovers don’t care. Brewster said he had been talking to some of the convention goers. “Their heart breaks” from the elementary school massacre, he said they told him. “But they feel that the Second Amendment and their protections are what are more important.”

That’s right, they apparently admit openly that guns are more important to them than the lives of young children. But they are out of step with most of America.

Ed. Note: Read about the moms who shoved a right wing provocateur right out of their protest. (Wonkette)