UNC students demanding gun reform removed from North Carolina Legislature

Dozens of college students were kicked out of the North Carolina Legislature on Tuesday after the group protested for gun reform.

The students, part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s (UNC) chapter of gun activist group March for Our Lives, planned the protest after a gunman killed a professor on campus last month.

At once, the group — wearing matching shirts in UNC colors — stood and chanted “vote them out” at the legislators before being escorted out of the chambers, according to video shared by one of the March for Our Lives co-founders.

The gunman, a UNC graduate student, was arrested after the shooting and charged with first-degree murder. 

The Legislature protests come as North Carolina lawmakers attempt to pass the state’s budget. The Legislature’s Republican majority has not announced plans to consider gun control legislation.

Similar gun control protests shook the Tennessee Legislature this spring, after three legislators interrupted a session with protesters to call for gun control reform after a school shooting in Nashville. Two of those legislators were expelled from the state House, but both were reelected and returned to their seats last month.

Tennessee lawmakers returned for a special session to address gun violence last month, but no significant reform measures were passed.