Million Mom March refers to the largest demonstration ever held in favor of stricter gun control legislation and to the national organization that formed in its wake. The event, held on Mother's Day of 2000 in Washington, D.C., drew hundreds of thousands of participants, primarily mothers. Organizers subsequently formed a chapter-based association, which in 2001 merged with a group that has led the fight for gun control in the United States since the 1980s—the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Now some 75 chapters strong, Million Mom March draws heavily on maternalist rhetoric; members generally portray themselves as “ordinary moms” seeking to “protect American children.”