SALT LAKE CITY — America is facing a harsh reality as gun violence continues to affect people across the country, from Nashville, to Uvalde and Denver.
On Wednesday, Utahn were speaking out in protest, hoping to see some changes made.
About 150 people took to the steps of the Utah State Capitol, adding their voices to the growing distress over gun violence.
"We still don't feel heard by the legislative here by the representatives that we've helped elect," said Ellie Otis, a coordinator with March On Our Lives Utah Chapter. "The symbolism in being here is to force them to look at us."
This was part of the March On Our Lives rally, a student-run organization that started following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018.
Otis is currently a senior at the University of Utah.
"We don't want to have to worry about our friends dying in front of us and we're basically asking the generations above us to help protect the ones below us," said Otis.
A similar sight that was seen across the Salt Lake Valley on Wednesday.
Hundreds of students at Salt Lake Arts Academy walked out of class at Noon to protest gun violence.
"Our safety in school, we can't learn if we can't feel safe," said Nora Bartel, a student at Salt Lake Arts Academy.
A walkout, Karin Fenn, a humanities teacher for 7th and 8th grade at Salt Lake Arts Academy is hoping comes with a big message.
"We've had many shelter in place practices and it really upsets the students," said Fenn. "Stopping gun violence, stopping threats in schools is one of the most important things."
According to data from the CDC, nearly 49,000 people died from firearm injuries in the United States in 2021, a surge of 23% over two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, an active shooter shot and killed six people, including three children at a school in Nashville.
Two days later, fake active shooter calls took place across the country, including calls to more than a dozen schools in Utah.
One of those was Ogden High School.
"As soon as the call came in, one of the analysts accessed those feeds and began scrutinizing all of the views to see what they could see," said David Weloth, Area Tactical Analysis Center Director.
It's called Area Tactical Analysis Center, or ATAC.
"We became operational in July 2011," said Weloth.
Through a partnership with the Ogden School District, Weloth says their analysts were able to access live feeds from the hundreds of cameras inside Ogden High School, the moment the call of active shooter came out.
"That's the true value for us is that as soon as the call came in, we were virtually inside the building," said Weloth. "When those camera feeds are pulled up, the view is like a multiplex so you can see 20 to 30 views at a time."
Lt. Will Farr with the Ogden Police Department says this gives them the ability to have an eye on a situation before an officer even arrives.
"Especially a situation as volatile as, as a potential active shooter is something that's extremely important," said Lt. Farr.
Lt. Farr says this also allows them to instantaneously do the work of several officers.
"We have the ability to be able to do in moments what it would take one officer or a few officers, potentially an hour to do to be able to clear different areas," said Lt. Farr.
FOX 13 News reached out to the Ogden School District about ATAC.
They provided us this statement:
Braving the chilly weather on Wednesday, those like Otis, are hoping this shows how united people are on this issue.
"It's important for us to hold events like this, to first of all show that we are as a nation are very together on this, very together on what needs to happen in order to prevent gun violence," said Otis.
Otis says their main priority during the rally was to get the voice out for those students, who can no longer speak.
