FRAMINGHAM — US Senator Edward Markey vowed Sunday to drive a vote on gun control in the Senate this year, as students who survived a mass shooting at their Florida high school said they were planning national protests against gun violence.

Markey called gun violence a public health issue, saying there was a correlation between gun control and the reduction of number of people harmed by guns.

“We are going to have to force a historic debate on gun control on the floor of the United States Senate this year,’’ said Markey, who spoke before hundreds packed into the auditorium in the city’s Memorial Building for a town hall meeting Sunday afternoon.

Markey’s appearance came days after a mass shooting at a Florida school Thursday that left 17 dead and scores more injured. President Trump has been criticized for his response, which has focused on addressing mental health issues rather than gun control.

A group of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., said on Sunday that they are organizing ‘‘March for Our Lives’’ rallies in Washington, D.C., and major US cities on March 24 to demand action on gun violence.

“Hopefully it’s now going to build up into a children’s crusade in our country, so that the response to the National Rifle Association comes from the youngest people in our country,’’ said Markey.

Markey suggested a goal for the effort: to turn the meaning of the National Rifle Association’s initials into “Not Relevant Anymore.’’

Markey also offered a full-throated defense of young immigrants brought to this country illegally as children, who are known as Dreamers, and criticized President Trump for his position regarding 700,000 immigrants in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Those protections are due to expire March 5, he said.

Trump wants funding for a $25 billion border wall between the United States and Mexico in exchange for protections for Dreamers, as well as reductions in legal immigration.

“We have a moral responsibility as a country to ensure that we do protect these young people. They should not be sent back to countries they did not grow up in,’’ said Markey.

Markey drew a parallel to present-day immigrants with the story of his grandparents, who arrived in the United States from Ireland, and noted that when he first ran for the Senate, he discovered that his father’s childhood home in Lawrence was occupied by a Dominican family.

“The accents were different, but the aspirations were the same,’’ said Markey.

Markey also blasted Trump’s proposed budget, which called for increases in military spending, alongside cuts to services and tax cuts that would favor wealthy Americans.

He also took the president to task for leading an administration that has reversed efforts to protect the environment, and for withdrawing from a world agreement to cut carbon emissions.

“What Donald Trump did in pulling us out of the Paris climate agreement is an absolute assault upon science, who we are, [and] what we believe in,’’ said Markey.

During a question-and-answer session following his remarks, an Ashland man called on Markey to rally his fellow senators to support services for children that protect them from gun violence, opioid abuse, and other issues.

“The fact that they can go to school and be murdered. . . you as [a] leader of this state and of this country have to put partisan politics aside, and you need to fix this. And I’m here today to ask you to be that leader,’’ said the man.

Markey pointed to his past work on gun control, including supporting legislation that called for studying gun violence as a public health issue. He said the Department of Health and Human Services will conduct such a study.

After another audience member asked about efforts to push gun control, Markey blamed gridlock in Congress for a lack of action to make new laws that limit access to guns following shootings like those in Florida and Nevada.

Material from the Washington Post and Associated Press was used in this report. John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.