During a vigil to remember the dead killed in Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday, the Republican governor of the state was stopped mid-speech with demands that he “do something” about the kind of violence that had left at least nine people dead less than 24 hours earlier.
Mike DeWine had just remarked on the size of the crowd in Dayton’s Oregon District, when he was confronted with pleas for action.
“Do something!” a member of the crowd yelled, prompting echoes from the others in the crowd that built into chants that disrupted the event, which was being held around the corner from the site of the deadly shooting.
The moment quickly went viral on social media, as a frustration with a lack of action on the gun violence epidemic spread.
It echoed sentiments across the US following other mass shootings, including at the vigil following the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last year, when a mourning crowd chanted “no more guns!”
“We are tired of vigils!” the crowd in Ohio chanted.
Soon after the vigil, the hashtag “#DoSomething” took off on Twitter, with impassioned statements being posted by users in favour of gun control action.
Mr DeWine’s position on gun control appears to hew closely to the positions of the National Rifle Association (NRA), and he announced on the campaign trail last year that he supported “red flag” laws that could allow law enforcement to take firearms from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others, so long as there is “due process”.
That position is similar to the one taken by the NRA.
