Pro-gun advocates marched from the Bank of Springfield Center to the Capitol with one message as they rallied during the annual Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day — they are not going to be silenced.

Clad in yellow and holding signs reading “Guns save lives” and “My gun, my right,” protesters railed against stricter gun laws, arguing they aren’t the solution to mass shootings.

Steve Tegeler, a protester from Effingham, said it isn’t gun owners' fault that mass shootings happen.

“We don’t want these bad things to happen to us,” Tegeler said. “I hope these other representatives, and the senators, and the governor is paying attention to what the actual people in the state want and not what they try to force down everybody’s throat."

Mary Perkins came to Springfield on a bus from Lockport to protest bills that would add more taxes to buying guns or restrict guns people are allowed to have.

"It's our constitutional right to bear arms, to have guns" she said.

In Perkins’ opinion, these types of proposals aren’t stopping “criminals” from getting guns, just penalizing citizens who follow the rules.

“There are so many illegal guns on the street, but they continue to come after us," Perkins said. "We're not going to go walking down the street shooting people. We're just going to protect ourselves against people who want to do us harm.

"We’re law-abiding, we carry our guns because we have conceal-carry licenses, but we’re not looking for trouble,” she added. “We’re everyday people.”

Rockford resident Greg Thorn grew up with guns.

“If you follow the proper training, get the proper education on how to handle them, they’re no different than working a hammer or a saw,” he said.

Law-abiding citizens are the ones “who pay the price” when gun laws get stricter, Thorn added.

“You can’t fight back, and if you can’t fight back, who’s going to defend you?” he asked. “The best self-protection is a firearm.”

Trevor Silver, from Lowpoint, said he brought his children, ages 8 to 16, to the rally because gun rights are important to him and his family.

"(I wanted) to teach them a little bit of our responsibilities as citizens," he said.

Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Mokena, is among a group in the Illinois House trying to find solutions to the fatal shooting that happened at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora.

“This has caused a number of representatives to want to legislate more in this area, with respect to how this fellow got this gun when he never should have had it in the first place” McDermed said. “All the solutions involve the imposition of additional restrictions on all of us here, law-abiding gun owners.”

McDermed said it is her mission between now and the end of session to stop this and “bring (these legislators) all to their senses.”

“With you behind us, we will be strong,” she told a crowd of protesters outside of the Capitol.

A number of other Republican lawmakers addressed the large crowd of protesters before they went inside to lobby.

“Our message today for these legislators, when you go in and talk to them ... has to be polite,” Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, said. “But the message has to be we will not comply. We will not comply with a God-given right that you’re trying to take away.”

Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, said as he travels through his district in southern Illinois, people ask him what he is going to do about the “bad bills” being proposed.

“I promise you, when that line is drawn on the sand, we are going to be one of the first ones there,” he said. “Because I will never, ever, give up my AR-15, or any other gun.”

Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, said when the guns go, people’s freedom goes with it.

“This fight is about our freedom,” he said. “Your voices need to be heard. We will not be intimidated. We cannot be bought, and we will not be silenced.”

Secretary of State police estimate about 400 of the pro-gun advocates were actually inside the Capitol Building to lobby, according to Secretary of State spokesman Henry Haupt, but there were many more outside and who participated in the march.

Contact Cassie Buchman: 782-3095, cbuchman@sj-r.com, twitter.com/cjbuchman.