Set against a backdrop of blossoming cherry trees, chirping birds and a visit to campus by Charlton Heston, head of the National Rifle Association, students from GW and other area universities listened to activists and legislators speak on gun control at Georgetown University Wednesday.

About 200 students gathered to protest youth accessibility to weapons, more than 11 months after shots were fired at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

We have long passed the state of being in an epidemic of gun violence, said Jason McGrath, a sophomore at Georgetown and founder of the campus chapter of the Campus Alliance to End Gun Violence. I can no longer read the newspaper or watch the nightly news without expecting to hear of another preventable tragedy. It’s scary to know the brutal violence on the streets of our cities, in our classrooms and in our high schools has stopped shocking us. It’s wrong, it’s simply wrong, and something has to be done about it.

Too often, we students don’t realize the power we possess. We don’t think our efforts can change anything, but that’s not true. It’s time to end gun violence now.

Carrying protest signs reading Make Love (When You’re Married) Not Guns, and Stop Kids Killing Kids, students from GW as well as other area universities attended the rally to show their support for gun control legislation.

It’s an issue I’m personally very passionate about, GW junior Jeff Marootian said. I worked for Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y), so it’s an issue I’ve worked on a lot. McCarthy’s husband was killed and her son severely injured when a gunman began shooting on a Long Island Railroad commuter train in New York City.

Students said they came to show their support and have their voices heard by legislators and gun control advocates.

Sometimes it takes the students to push the people who work down the street at the Capitol to do the right thing, said Kim Wade, campaign manager for the Alliance for Justice. Right wing, left wing, old, young, rural, urban, we can all do something about it.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) is a sponsor of an amendment to gun control legislation that forces a House and Senate conference committee to submit a finalized version of juvenile gun legislation to the president before the April 20 Columbine anniversary.

We must stop this epidemic of gun violence, Reed said. We have to pass sensible gun legislation that restricts easy access to guns. The sad thing is that in some parts of this country, it’s easier to get a gun than to get a library book.

Similar protests have been held recently at Brandeis University and the University of Denver, speakers said.