LANSING, Mich. — Green and white flooded the east lawn of the Michigan State Capitol on Feb. 20 as students of Michigan State University led a protest to demand the state legislature move toward change.
"The time for change was years ago after each previous mass shooting," one student told the crowd. "But I refuse to be another statistic in the American education system and I refuse to wait until others come to realize that all those victims - they were worthy of life. You guys are worthy of life. I am worthy of life."
Hundreds gathered to hear from students, particularly on reforming the state's firearms laws.
National activists from March For Our Lives, a group formed in the wake of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, held an event earlier the same day to similarly call for change.
"What we're doing right now as a country is not working," said David Hogg, a leading national advocate for gun reform following the Parkland shooting. "The cycle that we're in, the endless debate, inaction is not working."
The Michigan legislature has already introduced bills in the wake of the shooting. Members of the Senate putting forward 11 bills aimed at weapons reform.
Chairing the House Higher Education Committee, State Representative Carol Glanville (D-Walker) said that she believes such legislation is needed in order to protect Michiganders.
"I think we need to address that in the sense that we have raised, now, two generations - and I'm talking about millennials, and Gen Z, and we're working on a third - who have been raised in a culture of gun violence," Glanville said.
14 bills were also formally introduced in the House one day after the shooting.
Those bills centering on school safety and mental health resources. However, students and activists made clear on Monday that they believe firearm safety is what will truly make keep them safe and alive.
"Young people keep dying. Young people keep dying and when will this stop. Thank you."
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