LANSING, Mich. — Tuesday, February 13 marked one year since the tragic shooting at Michigan State University that took the lives of three students and hurt five others.
Some Spartans skipped class Thursday and headed to the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing to rally against gun violence — turning their pain into passion.
"I will not stop fighting until this epidemic ends. Brian, Arielle and Alexandria do not deserve for us to fall silent," Maya Manuel, a current student at MSU, said.
Though Manuel says her grief still is raw, she wants to stand tall — advocating for those who can't advocate for themselves.
"I don't want to be in my position 30 years from now, looking at the next 20-year-old saying, 'I'm sorry that I didn't do enough to stop this,'" she added.
She, along with other students, stood on the Capitol steps Thursday — holding signs and begging for an end to gun violence.
Manuel says it's not just a problem in Michigan, but rather, a nationwide issue that lawmakers everywhere need to address.
"All I know is we seriously can't just pick and choose what tragedies we want to speak on...We can't pick and choose how we fight...All violence is violence and all prevention is necessary," she said.
Manuel added that she was grateful for the small, but mighty turnout Thursday, which included state Representative Emily Dievendorf and state Senator Winnie Brinks. However, Manuel would have liked to have seen more lawmakers join them.
"A lot of lawmakers showed up last year, just two days after the shooting...I really hoped with the amount of time that we gave them, the notice that we gave them, I really hoped that they would've show up today," she added.
Last year, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed four new gun laws aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.
