COLUMBIA, S.C. — A call to end gun violence was heard nationwide on June 11 through the March for Our Lives movement, including in Columbia, South Carolina. Protestors in the Capital City urged lawmakers to pass new gun laws.
The rally began at the State House, and as hundreds began their march downtown, they chanted, "no more silence, end gun violence!”
Organizers, which were South Carolina college and high school students, took turns on the microphone on the south steps of the Capitol. One listed off mass shooting tragedies in the U.S.
"It’s Virginia Tech, it’s our colleges, it's Parkland, it's Columbine, it's Sandy Hook and we need to say no more,” one student said.
Following the 2022 mass shootings, including the killing of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, the second-ever March for our Lives rally was organized nationwide.
"It hurts. Having children of your own, knowing that school is not as safe as it should be, churches, grocery stores... [I'm] just done. So, I wanted to come out and show support and end gun violence,” Columbia-area teacher and mother Shawnette Leach said.
March For Our Lives started in 2018 after the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 children and staff members. Leach is saddened that nothing has changed since then.
Leach added that school safety is worsening in the Palmetto State too.
“I’ve personally had two students in two years bring guns to school, in class unknowingly,” Leach said.
Leach would like to see a ban on assault rifles and wants it to be harder to access guns. On the other hand, protestor Murray Miller told News19 he would like to see efforts focused on mental health.
“There has to be a deeper underlying cause for these terrible tragedies that are occurring, I think really the focus needs to be on mental health,” said Miller.
Many protesters' signs had statements on guns but Miller's sign stated, “fund mental health.”
"I’d prefer to see more of a preventive approach," Miller said on the question of how he'd like to see the issue of violence handled.
He added that schools should have wellness programs that teach children how to control their emotions and develop social skills. While South Carolinians may differ on how they’d like lawmakers to respond to the violence, many agree that enough is enough.
The March for Our Lives movement swept across the country Saturday from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles. Here in South Carolina, Greenville joined in as well.