The Republican speaker of Mississippi's House of Representatives on Monday called for the Confederate battle emblem to be removed from the Magnolia State's flag, the Associated Press reported.

In the wake of last week's Charleston church shooting, Philip Gunn became the first "top-tier Republican" in Mississippi to urge such a change; the current design, he said, was "offensive."

"We must always remember our past, but that does not mean we must let it define us," Gunn said. "As a Christian, I believe our state's flag has become a point of offense that needs to be removed. We need to begin having conversations about changing Mississippi's flag," the speaker, who is also a leader in his local Baptist church, added.

The Mississippi state flag has included the Confederate emblem since Reconstruction, and 64 percent of the state's residents voted in a 2001 ballot measure to retain the current design, the (Jackson, Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger recalled. Gov. Phil Bryant voted with the majority in the referendum, his spokeswoman, Nicole Webb, revealed.

Through Webb, the governor on Monday voiced opposition to Gunn's proposal, contending that he did not expect the legislature to "supersede the will of the people on this issue."

Jennifer Gunter, a University of Mississippi graduate who is pursuing a Ph.D in American History at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, meanwhile, received widespread support for her moveon.org petition urging the removal of the Confederate emblem from Mississippi's official banner, the Jackson newspaper reported.

"I tell people that the flag that flies in front of the statehouse here, at least that's not your official state flag," the student said on Monday. "It's still a part of mine. I figured if we were going to change it, this would be the time. Are we still going to be the last to take it down?"

While Mississippi is the only state to retain the widely recognized battle emblem as part of its state flag, other Confederate symbols are included in a number of banners, including those of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, the Washington Post noted.