News - Middle East: More than a thousand people have gathered outside the National Rifle Association (NRA)'s annual convention in Houston, Texas, to protest gun violence in the US.

The protest on Friday came as the country’s biggest arms lobby came under pressure following the latest school shooting massacre in the southern state.

Activist groups participated in the event include Black Lives Matter Houston, Indivisible Houston, Moms Demand Action, Texas American Federation of Teachers and March for Our Lives.

Shouting "NRA, go away," and "Shame, it could be your kids today," the participants held signs and crosses with the photos of victims from an elementary school shooting incident on Tuesday, during which an 18-year-old opened fire and shot dead 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas.

Others carried small caskets and held signs as they chanted, “Protect our kids, not guns!”
The gathering outside the George R. Brown Convention Center also saw several Texas politicians, including Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O'Rourke, who told protesters, “The time for us to stop the next mass shooting” is “right now, right here, today.”

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) also lamented stalled gun control legislation in Congress and called on the NRA to “cancel itself.”

South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem urged attendees not to back down in their fight against gun control, saying, "Now would be the worst time to quit. Now is when we double down.”