In a news release, the organizers said it is in response to the UNC Chapel Hill on-campus shooting on Monday, August 28. Associate professor Zijie Yan was killed and a grad student has been charged in the case.
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The rally took place from 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. at Halifax Mall on North Salisbury Street.
There were already walkouts during the week and some protests at the Capitol, but some leaders say their concerns are going unheard as gun violence continues to be an issue.
One of the organizers of the rally, the president of the Young Democrats of North Carolina, said he has heard from a lot of UNC students since the two recent cases of gun violence and they want to see new laws passed in the state.
Speaker Justin Jones, one of the "Tennessee Three", the group of Democratic lawmakers expelled by their colleagues for rallying against gun violence on the house floor, said Tennessee and North Carolina have a lot in common and some of the solutions being raised include red flag laws and universal background checks, which they argue would make a difference.
Some UNC students met with lawmakers this past Tuesday about gun violence. The following day there was another gun scare which led to a campus lockdown. A Durham man has been charged in that case.
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