Dozens of people – 37, to be precise – came to Chicago’s Loop on Wednesday to lie down on the ground in memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy.

“The time it took those 37 people to lie down is approximately the amount of time it took for those 32 individuals to lose their lives one year ago today,” said Thom Mannard, executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.

The unconventional memorial also served as a memorial to area victims of crimes involving guns.

Instead of the typical rally with marching and protesting, organizers chose a more symbolic means to pay tribute. 

The tribute featured a reading of each victim’s name, after which one of the participants would lie on the ground. After the roll of Virginia Tech victims, the five names of the students killed at Northern Illinois University in February were read.

But Mannard said more than symbolism was at stake at the Thompson Center.

The lie-in and anniversary come as several area colleges and high schools had to close in response to threats of violence against students. 

In fact, on Wednesday, South Suburban College in South Holland became the latest school to cancel classes after receiving an anonymous threat.

Threats of violence are one issue, but for the 24 Chicago Public Schools students who have been killed this school year and their friends and families, the violence is real.

Al Raby High School sophomore Eddie Bland, who participated in the lie-in and who works with an area anti-violence organization, sees a common link with all of the deaths.

“Regardless of where it has been, it has always been young people – from teenagers to their early 20s. So it’s like their life just ended. They really didn’t get a chance to start anything. And since I am a young person, I connect with them like that,” Bland said.

A parent of a gun victim said he was heartened by the event.

Tom Vanden Berk of Highland Park, whose son was killed 16 years ago, was encouraged by the participation of young people like Bland, given that the majority of the victims honored were under the age of 25.

“This is the difference in today’s world.  Young people, now, understand this is nonsense: ‘You old folks continue to perpetuate it.’ There’s a lot better sense that is a possibility of change. Young people look at things differently,” Vanden Berk said.

Thrust to the center of the event was the debate on gun legislation. Those in attendance pushed for public officials to pass stricter gun laws that they feel can lead to less lives lost. 

One measure under consideration is a bill in the Illinois General Assembly that would close the loophole for the private sale of handguns. The measure was defeated in a tie vote in the House on Wednesday.

Just last week, the House defeated a measure that would have limited the purchase of guns to one per month. 

Mannard says that the urgency to pass gun legislation has to be felt not just by citizens but public officials as well.

“As frustrating as it is, the reality is we can’t depend on our legislators in [Washington] D.C. or many of our legislators in Springfield.  I think, frankly, that a number of them really don’t care about those who are losing their lives, because their actions indicate that they have no desire to tighten the laws to minimize the risk,” Mannard said.

Not everyone agrees, however, that the answer to the violence is to tighten gun laws.

Sam Fuqua, head of the Northern Illinois University chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, sees no positive result of stricter laws.

“The primary flaw in stricter gun-control laws is the assumption that criminals will not be able to buy guns,” Fuqua said in an email on Wednesday. “The laws restricting guns only restrict upright citizens, because the criminals are going to break the law anyways.  No murderer chooses his method based on the legal repercussions.”

South Side resident Lee Holmes, who stopped to watch the lie-in, points to a root that is closer to home.

“It ain’t the guns. [It’s] lack of education. The lack of real men standing up and being men and saying curb all of this in our own neighborhoods. We should educate ourselves more about what’s really going on.”