Less than a month after multiple high-profile mass shootings sent shock waves through the nation, hundreds of protesters gathered at Denver’s March For Our Lives event at Civic Center Park on Saturday to demand immediate legislative action on gun control.

The Denver protest comes four weeks after 10 Black people were killed in an alleged racist shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y. grocery store, and two and a half weeks after 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. In 2022 alone, the U.S. has seen nearly 250 mass shootings.

By 9:45 a.m. on Saturday, many attendees had already arrived and were filing into the rows of seats at Civic Center Park’s Greek Amphitheater, carrying signs with slogans such as “Count votes, not bodies!” and “Protect kids, not guns.” The protest was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

One protester, Donna Bashline, carried a sign featuring two hands waving their middle fingers, with the words “thoughts” and “prayers” written on each extended finger. To many gun-control advocates, the “thoughts and prayers” politicians and others have offered after mass shootings—especially when not accompanied by political action—ring hollow.

Bashline, a mother of a six-year-old who just recently graduated kindergarten, expressed anger at the lack of government action on guns.

“Our government right now is just really not doing any work for us on any level right now,” Bashline said. “[We need to] get these people out of office and get these people—the people who are here—into office.”

Others who attended the event, such as Jennifer Yeatts, were gun owners who had come to advocate for responsible gun ownership. To Yeatts, that means implementing background checks and more regulations around gun ownership.

“We have a problem. Not everybody needs to have every kind of gun,” said Yeatts. “I don’t think that’s what the Second Amendment is. I think it’s really ironic that an 18-year-old can go in and purchase a weapon of death but isn’t mature enough to get a beer with dinner.”

Most of the event’s organizers were 15 to 17-year-old high school students. Ava, the 17-year-old emcee, spoke about feeling “terrified” to go to school and said it was “embarrassing to see our country’s absence in such a serious issue.”

Other speakers at the event included student survivors of mass shootings, parents of children killed by gun violence, and legislators such as U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), state Sen. Tammy Story (D-Conifer) and state Rep. Tom Sullivan (D-Centennial), many of whom gave impassioned pleas for change amid congressional gridlock over new proposed gun-control legislation.

Schools are a frequent target for mass shooters. Since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, over 311,000 students have been exposed to gun violence at schools, according to the Washington Post.

Yet concealed handgun permit holders are still allowed to carry guns at some school campuses in Colorado, including at CU Boulder. According to CU Boulder policy, the only places on campus where people may not carry concealed guns is in campus residence halls and at events such as concerts and sports games.

In 1970, CU instituted a campus-wide firearm ban, making exceptions only for law enforcement officers. The ban enjoyed widespread support from groups such as the CU Student Government, the Intercampus Student Forum and the Boulder Faculty Assembly. 

However, a pro-gun group called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus sued the university in 2008, saying the school’s policy was in violation of statewide concealed-carry gun laws. In March 2012, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that CU could not legally prohibit concealed guns on campus.

Some areas are beginning to pass gun-control legislation at the local level. In 2021, Colorado became one of only eight states that allow cities and counties to make their own gun laws, and four cities in Boulder County—Boulder, Lafayette, Louisville and Superior—passed several new gun restrictions earlier this week. 

All the same, organizations such as March For Our Lives and the events they organize serve as proof that growing numbers of Coloradans—and Americans—are fed up with existing gun laws and are mobilizing in hopes of creating lasting change in gun policy. 

The inaugural March For Our Lives event was held in March 2018 in Washington, D.C. This year’s event in Denver was one of over 350 sister events scheduled to take place across the nation between June 10 and June 25.