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Thousands Rally Against Gun Violence In Copley Square

BOSTON (CBS) - Some 1,000 United Synagogue Youth students turned out in Copley Square Wednesday to advocate against gun violence.

The students joined religious and local leaders and Colin Goddard, an advocate for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.

"The issue of gun violence touches every community our USYers come from and our teens are ready to raise their voices and make a difference," said Rabbi David Levy, director of teen learning for USCJ. "Our kids are telling us adults, 'We want to feel safe,' and we need to listen.'"

The rally's name "The Praying with Our Feet: Rally Against Gun Violence" was a nod to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's iconic phrase that he was "praying with his feet" when he marched in Selma, Ala. with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965.

Colin Goddard of the Brady Campaign was shot four times during the Virginia Tech shooting and survived. Goddard dialed 911 during the shooting and is credited for the fast arrival of the police.

After the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last week and another shooting in Webster, New York this week, advocates for the group say things need to change.

"It is unconscionable that -- with the escalation of gun violence in our nation --there has been no real progress on the federal level," said Rabbi Wernick. "It is time to force the hand of Congress to confront the National Rifle Association and their supporters. The massacre in Newtown, CT wounded the very soul of America. I am touched as a parent as well as a rabbi. The time has come to act."

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