Statehouse Rally Shares Message Of National March For Our Lives

Hundreds of demonstrators circled the Indiana Statehouse this weekend to protest gun violence.

Organizers moved the rally inside the statehouse because of the weather, and limited entryways meant some people had to wait for hours to get in. As they stood in line their chants of "enough is enough" echoed those coming from inside the rotunda.

Students, activists, and elected officials spoke at the rally. Including US Senator Joe Donnelly, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick and We LIVE Indy founder Brandon Warren.

Warren says the Parkland school shooting last month has energized a new wave of activism to end gun violence.

"Seventeen lives lost in Florida have inspired so many great kids in Parkland to speak up and be vocal and inspire the whole country," Warren says.

Many of the event's speakers and activists called for stricter gun laws, including banning bump stocks and making universal background checks to buy a firearm. Indianapolis mother DeAndra Yates's son was shot and nearly killed in 2014, and she says people need to come together and do more, to help prevent shootings.

"No time to turn around," Yates says. "No action for change is too small. It is now truly up to us."

Speakers also encouraged people to vote - and to vote for candidates who would fight for stricter gun laws. Indiana's voter turnout was 58 percent in the last presidential election, and Democratic US Representative Andre Carson, urged demonstrators to continue their fight at the polls.

"This movement cannot stop at the statehouse. This movement has to continue at the voting booth," Carson says.

The crowd seemed to agree, with more chants of "vote them out" echoing across the marble.

WFIU/WTIU's Brock E.W. Turner contributed reporting to this story.