NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One of the largest protests in recent memory filled the plaza in front of the Tennessee state capitol. Demonstrators are called for tighter restrictions on guns and improving safety for schools.
The thing that made this protest different than others, was the age of its attendees. The majority of people in the crowd were students.
Ezri Tyler helped organize the protest. She is with March for Our Lives, a national group that demands gun reform, to keep kids safe.
According to their site, gun violence is the leading cause of death in young people.
"Students are also on the frontlines of the gun violence epidemic. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for young people. It's not traffic accidents, it's not anything else," Tyler said.
She is a student at Vanderbilt University -- and said Generation Z has grown up on gun violence in schools. Columbine happened in 1999 -- and school shootings have only become more common since.
"We are the lockdown generation, there's no getting around, that students have grown up from the ages of five years old on being told that there's a risk of active shooters in their lives are on the line. And that is absolutely unacceptable," Tyler said.
Tyler led several chants during the protest. Several other students from Vanderbilt were in attendance, as well as other colleges.
Local high school students also attended.
"We shouldn't go through this," said Akaryia Hall, a sophomore at East Nashville high school. She, alongside some other friends, walked out of school for the protest today.
"You should feel safe at school, you shouldn't have to feel like you're going to go on lockdown. It's hard to go through this. It's hard to have to march," she said.
Even younger than high school, Virginia Carpenter is a 5th grader in Nashville. She was holding signs alongside her cousin, Harry Thornton, also a 5th grader.
"We went to covenant and put flowers there. I started crying and like, it's very sad," Virginia said.
They came out to protest- and want to make it safer for them to go to school.
"If more people come out, maybe it would change some laws about guns. It could change something, so stuff like what happened at Covenant won't happen anymore," they said.
Even younger than 5th grade, 10News spoke with Madalyn, a 3rd grader in Nashville. She held a sign that read: "In Tennessee, It's easier to get an AR-15 than Taylor Swift tickets."
Madalyn said she came with her mom.
"I'm here because I want to say, it’s not okay for kids to be shot," Madalyn said.
Many parents brought their kids. Some are too young to speak. Nancy Radetic has two preschoolers.
"We have to have the discussion about guns and you know how they're not good and they can hurt people. And there are some bad people that want to hurt people. And that's a really scary conversation to have with your kids. But I guess it has to happen at four years old," Nancy said.
Despite the pleas from students and parents, demanding gun reform in Tennessee. Governor Bill Lee did not mention gun reform in his Monday press conference. Instead, he cited plans to add SROs, increase school security, and add mental health resources for children.