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Despite Tuesday’s stifling 95-degree
temperatures, protestors with the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence
joined near the Municipal Center walkway and fountain to remember the lives
of those lost in the Virginia Tech shooting and to call for stricter
gun-control laws.
In a brief ceremony, event
organizer Christopher Boyster read the names of the school’s 32
victims, and protesters — clad all in black except for ribbons in
Virginia Tech’s school colors — lay on the ground to symbolize
how little time it takes to purchase a handgun in some states. Boyster says that the protest was
not against the recreational use of firearms but instead to express outrage
over a national gun-violence “epidemic” that claims the lives
of 200 Americans each week. “This is about coming
together to protect our children and ourselves against gun violence,”
Boyster says, “and to discuss and explore what must be
done.”
Brenda Weber, mother of two
Rochester High School students, says that she joined the protest to honor
children lost by other mothers and to remind herself how fortunate her kids
were in a similar school situation. “A
gun was brought to Rochester High School last year,” Weber says.
“They locked the school down, and nothing happened to the kids. We
were very fortunate.”
A few counterprotesters, including
Tom Shafer, host of a cable-access program, watched the ceremony. Shafer
says that a larger initiative was planned but scrapped when police said
that a city permit would be required for a full protest. Shafer says Illinois already has some of
the nation’s strictest gun laws and that someone purchasing his or
her first firearm must wait 30 days and undergo a background check before
acquiring a Firearms Owner Identification Card.
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2007.
