Chanting "Gun-free schools" and holding signs bearing slogans such as "Remember Virginia Tech," a group of University of Texas students gathered at the Capitol on Thursday, the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, to protest a proposal by state lawmakers that would allow students to carry concealed handguns on Texas college campuses.

Students walked out of classes to rally against House Bill 1893, which is sponsored by Rep. Joe Driver, R-Garland. Word of the protest spread on Facebook and via e-mail in the past week. Capitol police don't release crowd estimates, officials said.

On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot 32 people before he killed himself on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University campus in what is called the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Virginia Tech students and faculty observed Thursday as a Day of Remembrance.

John Woods, a UT graduate student and a Virginia Tech alum who helped organize the event, told the crowd that a close friend of his died in the shootings. "She never saw (the gunman) come in. If she had seen him, and she had a gun, she still would have died."

Woods led students in a moment of silence and rang a bell 32 times in honor of each victim before the rally continued on the south steps of the Capitol. State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, spoke against the bill during the rally.

"Someone with a concealed handgun license is not a deputy sheriff or a police officer," he said. "If a campus police officer arrived at a school shooting, how will that person decide who is the good guy and who is the bad guy in that situation?"

Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, said that when he was a student at UT, he "minored in demonstrations" and urged students to meet with lawmakers from their home districts after the rally.

"This bill needs to be killed because every professional in the field except for paid gun traffickers says it's a bad idea," Burnam said.

Driver said the legislation is meant to prevent a repeat of an incident like the one at Virginia Tech.

"If Virginia Tech had not kept the campus a gun-free zone, some people could have been saved," he said.

"Universities aren't a secure environment," said Tony McDonald, a spokesman for the Young Conservatives of Texas. "Anyone can carry a gun on campus now as long as they're willing to break the law. Only the people who are willing to abide by the law are prohibited from carrying a gun."

Alex Greenberg, 19, said he walked out of his architecture class to march to the Capitol. "Guns on campus take away from the atmosphere," he said. "You shouldn't have to worry about someone acting on an impulse and something terrible happening at school."

Cristina Ramage, 23, a law student, said the issue seems to be clear. "I'm a little incredulous as to why this bill has gone so far. I would definitely not feel safer knowing my fellow students were carrying guns on campus."