There was Gil Iker, a retired paratrooper and former brigadier general who missed open-heart surgery to attend the rally. Also on hand was William Williams, a machinist who moved to Salt Lake City from Massachusetts seven years ago.
Among a sea of cleverly crafted signs Williams held a simple black and white piece of cardboard reading, "Guns Killed My Dad." His father, Willie Charles Williams, shot himself 45 years ago.
"People say guns don't kill, but they do," Williams said. "They make it so easy and so final."
Beth Alpisa, 15, brought a similar message from Logan. When Alpisa was a fifth-grader, her uncle was shot by a burglar who panicked after being surprised during a robbery attempt.
"I'm not just going to let him die for no reason," Alpisa said. "Things like that don't happen for no reason. I want to use his death to make sure it doesn't happen to other people."
The trio were among an estimated 1,000 people in Salt Lake City who participated in Sunday's nationwide Million Mom March for stricter gun control, an issue that attracted tens of thousands of like supporters in some 70 communities across the United States.
Supporters gathered on the Salt Lake City-County Building's grounds to hear impassioned speeches for restrictions, such as banning concealed weapons in churches and schools, and contend with hecklers from the politically powerful gun rights camp.
George Meyer pushed his wheelchair and a sign reading "Misguided Millions" under the speaker's platform, where one critic shoved a picture of a 13-year-old gun victim into his face.
Meyer, 65, a victim of polio, recalled losing a daughter who drowned at the Pleasant Grove municipal pool in 1972. But Meyer said he wouldn't outlaw public pools.
"I don't blame anybody. It happened," said Meyer, who runs a small bookstore specializing in hunting and guns.
The Salt Lake rally comes as Utah gun-control advocates are struggling to gather nearly 70,000 signatures needed to put a proposed ban on concealed weapons in churches and schools to a public vote in November. Organizers need to gather signatures of 10 percent of the population that voted in the most recent gubernatorial election for 20 of 29 counties by June 1.
Iker, 74, of Park City, wearing his Green Beret uniform, delayed open heart surgery for the rally. From the podium, Iker scolded the Utah Legislature for refusing to upgrade training requirements for concealed weapons holders, "putting people at risk of unskilled amateurs who think they're entitled to play 'Rambo.' "
Iker ended his speech by declaring, "Get the guns out of schools and churches."
The few politicians on hand urged supporters not to let Sunday's momentum die. State lawmakers, such as Rep. Patrice Arent, D-South Cottonwood, who said she receives some 100 e-mail messages a day from "members of the far-right wing of the NRA (National Rifle Association)," said they know the opposition won't give up.
Among the petition opponents is Janalee Tobias, organizer of the local "pistol packin' mamas" rally last month, who traveled to Washington, D.C., Sunday to protest the Million Mom March nationally.
"I've been in three high-speed car accidents, and I'm lucky to be alive," Tobias told the Deseret News in a telephone interview Sunday. "In each case the car was licensed and registered, but I didn't blame the car, I blamed the driver."
Tobias was among tens of thousands of mothers, many accompanied by children and husbands, who thronged to the National Mall. Though there were no official crowd estimates, participants filled half a dozen blocks on the grassy area framed by the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, Congress and the Washington Monument.
Advocates of tighter gun control laws hope a mass turnout of mothers and families will spur activism that breaks the gridlock on gun-control legislation in the Republican-run Congress. In the wake of tragic shooting sprees across the country, participants in Sunday's "Million Mom March" signed thousands of Mother's Day cards printed with the message: "Forget the flowers . . . forget the chocolate . . . forget breakfast in bed. This Mother's Day, give us a present that lasts: common-sense gun laws."
Organizers of the "Million Mom March" principally want trigger locks to protect children and a national system that would register handguns and license their owners. They intend to maintain an activist movement that will endorse and oppose political candidates based on gun control positions.
"Politicians, take heed. We are watching you," said Dawn Anna, mother of Lauren Townsend, a student killed in the Columbine High School shootings that stunned the nation. "The hands that rock the cradles rule the world."
The Associated Press contributed to this story. E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com