Students gathered in Stafford Commons on Friday afternoon as part of a national walkout against gun violence. Students Demand Action, an on-campus, anti-gun-violence advocacy group, organized the event with March for Our Lives to take a stand following recent gun violence at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Elena Williamson, a third-year studying political science and Spanish, opened the walkout by reminding the crowd that there have been two armed and dangerous people on UNC’s campus within the past two weeks.

“We just want to advocate for our state legislators to not only propose, but to pass safer gun laws and hopefully make campuses a gun-free area because students should feel safe when they’re at schools,” Williamson said. “Schools should be a safe place.”

Amelia Wilmoth, a third-year studying history and the founder of NC State’s Students Demand Action chapter, said while this protest was organized as part of a nationwide protest, the walkout was also a response to specific remarks made by North Carolina legislators during a recent protest at the state legislature.

“We’re trying to get our voices heard with legislators,” Wilmoth said. “We have a petition that we’re gonna have people sign … because the North Carolina House speaker, after students showed up at the General Assembly, said that we actually need more guns. And we very much disagree with that.”

Criss Berke, a third-year studying agroecology and sustainable food systems and shooting survivor, attended the UNC March for Our Lives protest and the demonstration at the state legislature earlier this week..

“We cannot allow politicians to represent us when they care more about appealing to the gun lobby than about the people they serve,” Berke said.

Berke shared their personal experiences with gun violence to remind the protesters why they gathered.

“I will never forget how afraid I felt for my own life — or the helplessness I felt not knowing whether my twin was going to make it out alive,” Berke said. “Students and families are traumatized from gun violence. We are sick, we are tired and we are angry.”

Many of the students gathered expressed similar feelings of anger, hopelessness and frustration not just towards gun violence, but towards NC State’s lack of response.

“After the UNC protests, only one professor told the classroom, ‘This is what you do in case of an emergency,’” Berke said. “And it turns out our classroom wasn’t even up to code to be able to do lockdown in. So I wish the University would take it more seriously and [provide] more support for NC State students as well.”

Arianna Jenkins, a second-year studying psychology, felt NC State’s administration did not give students time to mentally recover from the UNC tragedy.

“There is no reason why I should be in class while my friends are hiding in their dorms, scared of a gunman 30 minutes away,” Jenkins said. “I don’t get a chance to walk out of the classroom to talk to my family members, talk to my friends, talk to the professors I know that are over there. There’s no relief.”

Students also expressed feeling unsafe on campus not just because of gun violence, but because of recent occurrences of sexual and physical crime.

“We feel unsafe automatically as people of color in the school,” Jenkins said. “So you add on the threat of violence. … [We’ve] had four sexual assaults already. Two of them were in the same weekend. We’ve had over 10 cars being broken into. There’s no safety precautions here, … and I don’t feel safe here.”

Anna-Lukas Banas, a third-year studying psychology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said the lack of any additional resources following the string of recent violence has contributed to feelings of unease on campus.

“I just feel like I’m waiting for someone to die,” Banas said.

Many protestors connected the recent violence to the national mental health epidemic and suggested increased efforts towards furthering mental health resources on campus could help students feel safer. 

Protestors acknowledged it will take a large organizational effort to enact gun reform, but Students Demand Action does not want students to lose hope.

“Do not give up or go numb,” Berke said. “Change is possible. We are here today to stand in solidarity with North Carolinians and the students at UNC.”

Students Demand Action will hold another rally in downtown Raleigh at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17.