Students, activists and local leaders gathered in Lansing, Michigan to call for laws to prevent gun violence a week after a deadly shooting at Michigan State University.
The Michigan Board of Education, MSU students and the gun control organization March For Our Lives hosted the rally, which took place on Monday.
In a press conference that kicked off the event, MSU students remembered Alexandria Verner, Brian Fraser and Arielle Anderson, the three students killed in last week’s shooting. Five more were injured after a man opened fire at multiple locations on the MSU campus on February 13. The suspect later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being confronted by police outside the campus.
Local leaders, including representatives of the American Federation of Teachers and state lawmakers, called for tougher gun control legislation at the news conference. Several MSU students have shared stories since last week’s shooting, explaining how they sent worried love messages to their parents and other family members during the incident.
March For Our Lives founder David Hogg also spoke at Monday’s event.
“I’m tired of dealing with this stuff,” he said. “I think we all are.”
Hogg argued that Democrats and Republicans should find common ground on gun control laws and “start focusing on what we can agree on, which is that we have to do something about it.”
“Every student in America is exhausted, every parent in our country is exhausted,” she said.
Hogg also praised young voters for their activism and support for candidates fighting for gun control legislation, urging elders and lawmakers to step up.
“I often hear older people say, ‘Thank God the kids are here,'” he said. “Stop that. You’re not dead yet.”
Three days after the shooting, Democrats in the Michigan state Senate introduced several gun control bills, according to MLive. The legislation was in the works following a shooting at a segregated school in Oxford, Michigan in November 2021 in which four students were killed.
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