Paul McCartney invokes John Lennon at NYC "March for Our Lives"

Thousands demand gun control at "March for Our Lives" rallies

Paul McCartney was one of tens of thousands of demonstrators on Saturday who turned out for a New York City march coinciding with the "March for Our Lives" in Washington D.C. "I'm like everyone -- I don't know, but this is what we can do, so I'm here to do it," McCartney said Saturday, while wearing a shirt that read: "We can end gun violence" and holding a "March For Our Lives" sign.

The former Beatle told CNN he marched because his former bandmate John Lennon was lost to gun violence in 1980.

Paul McCartney joins thousands of people, many of them students, march against gun violence in Manhattan during the March for Our Lives rally on March 24, 2018 in New York. Spencer Platt / Getty Images

"One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here, so it's important to me," McCartney said.

Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman while returning home to the Dakota apartment building along Central Park West in 1980.

Over the past five weeks, after the murders of 17 people at the high school, CBS News has followed the students as they started a movement. It's all featured in CBS News' documentary "39 Days."  You can watch the one-hour documentary here    

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