The Daily Tarheel

Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: University

Media Credit: DTH/Julie Turkewitz Debbie Wolff (front) of Chapel Hill participates in a lie-in on Polk Place to commemorate the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Media Credit: DTH/Julie Turkewitz "I only lived in Blacksburg for four years, but it's like my hometown," said Lisa Shaffer, a UNC graduate student and Va. Tech class of '01.

The first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings did not pass unnoticed for at least one group of volunteers.

About 60 people - and one dog - lay down in the center of Polk Place on Wednesday, many wearing Va. Tech T-shirts or ribbons. Each of their bodies represented one person killed by a gun in the U.S.

Volunteers abandoned bicycles and a wheelchair in the grass as another volunteer read the names of the 33 people killed at Va. Tech, including gunman Seung-Hui Cho.

Also named were former UNC Student Body President Eve Carson, N.C. Central student Denita Smith and Duke student Abhijit Mahato, who were shot to death in the last two years.

The lie-in lasted just a few minutes to symbolize the brief amount of time it takes to purchase a gun in the U.S., according to the event press release.

The reading of names was followed by a moment of silence for the victims, a prayer and a short speech about gun violence and how to stop it.

"These are killings with no end in sight, unless we choose to act," event organizer the Rev. Rachel Smith said in her speech.

Smith, a chaplain who works with the Raleigh-based Vigils Against Violence organization, said 32 gun-related homicides are committed each day in the United States.

"Today, we're part of something bigger than ourselves," she told the audience.

Smith said her group holds prayer vigils at sites of violent crimes in Raleigh to raise awareness about gun violence - a crime she said often seems invisible because many victims are poor or minorities.

The event was sponsored by the Million Mom March, a suborganization of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, in conjunction with a national series of lie-in protests against what volunteers call "lax U.S. gun laws."

More than 70 such protests were organized in 30 states today, according to the protest Web site.

The protests aim for increased gun control, especially closing a loophole that allows for the sale of firearms at gun shows without a background check.

"We're not here because we hate guns. We hate gun violence," said Connie Padgett, a staff member at the Carolina Population Center who also helped organize the event.

She said volunteers hoped to raise awareness about the issue of gun control while honoring victims' lives.

The volunteers held a similar protest on Polk Place in October, with 32 protesters sharing a moment of silence to honor the Va. Tech victims.

But organizers said Wednesday's event held special significance on a campus still reeling from the death of one of its own.

"It sort of yanks that invisible epidemic and brings it out of the dark and into the light," Smith said.

"It's a terrible reminder that violence can happen anywhere."



Contact the University Editor at Udesk@unc.edu.

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