Thousands of people attended the "March for Our Lives" rally in downtown Austin Saturday afternoon.
Students and their families said they marched to send a message to lawmakers.
"We see these students that have died and we're worried in our schools that that could happen to us," said Emma Ayers. "We have a lockdown drill in the middle of the day... and we don't want to be the next students to die because someone is able to buy an assault riffle and walk into any school."
At least 6,000 people signed up to attend, according to a Facebook page for the event. The team behind the march was made up of nearly 150 volunteers and organizers, including at least 30 Central Texas students.
18-year-old Conor Heffernan, a senior in high school, was one of the organizers. He saw what happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and wanted to do something.
"After the Stoneman Douglas tragedy, I was pretty cynical. I thought nothing was going to change," Conor said. "It pushed me to be an activist on my own, which is something I hadn't done before."
When the Facebook event for the rally was created, he thought only 200 people would sign up to attend. But with thousands of people who attended, Conor said the march is just the beginning.
"We want to register voters. We want everyone leaving feeling inspired. And then we want them to become activists on their own," he said. "We want them to call their lawmakers so that they can ... they can just bug them, 'Why haven't you supported this bill? Why haven't you supported that bill?'"
The march began at 12 p.m. at Austin City Hall before heading to the Texas State Capitol.
Mayor Steve Adler, council member Alison Alter, and Matthew McConaughey, among others, attended.
Round Rock and Pflugerville are also hosted March for Our Lives rallies. They were among the more than 800 rallies planned around the world.