Nearly 1,800 pairs of shoes filled the west steps of the State Capitol on Thursday, symbolic of the more than 7,000 Coloradans felled by gunfire in the years since the Columbine Massacre, said organizers of the so-called Silent March to bring attention to victims of gun violence.

“Our own state, unfortunately, has been in the forefront of some of these horrible mass-shooting tragedies, so we are in a position to be a leader throughout the country in taking action,” said state Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, who told the crowd of roughly 100 that it was important to demonstrate that there was a vocal constituency for gun-control laws “who just will not let this issue go.”

McCann, one of the chief sponsors of controversial gun-control legislation this session, said she was stunned that gun-rights advocates had managed to block federal gun-control legislation a day earlier in Washington, when advocates failed to muster enough votes to overcome a Senate filibuster.

“My heart is heavy today at what happened yesterday in the United States Senate. It’s embarrassing, and I’m still having trouble understanding how this could happen,” she said. “But the good news is, here in Colorado, we did pass a universal background check, and we did pass a magazine limit, and we do now require people to pay to get their own background checks.” She added that she was confident that another bill she was sponsoring – it would confiscate guns from Coloradans convicted of domestic violence offenses and those subject to protective orders – would pass the House in coming days.

“The good news is, we are taking some action here in Colorado,” McCann said.

Colorado Ceasefire organized the event along with Moms Demand Action, the Million Moms March, Hunters Against Gun Violence and Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Other speakers at the rally included state Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, who lost her son and his fiancé to gun violence, and state Sen. Nancy Todd, D-Aurora, whose district includes the Aurora movie theater where 16 were killed and dozens more wounded in a mass shooting last summer. Family members of victims of shootings at Columbine, Aurora and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., also spoke, some placing empty pairs of shoes on the steps.

– Ernest@coloradostatesman.com