Countless young adults and children — some just barely old enough to be starting school themselves — say these were their main motivations to join the more than 50,000 people who marched through downtown Seattle for the March For Our Lives protest on Saturday.

Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of people took part in more than 800 sister marches, like Seattle’s, that were tied to the primary event held in Washington, D.C. The movement was sparked by the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last month that left 17 dead, and the marches demanded that state and federal lawmakers pass gun control reforms and measures to ensure safer schools for today’s children and future generations.

Seattle’s march drew mostly adults and families, along with many children and teenagers. Their reasons for marching ranged from the personal to the political, but with the same desire: To live a life without gun violence.

Here are some of their voices.