Widespread action on gun control in the states unlikely

Students from Harvest Collegiate High School march from in Washington Square Park on March 14, 2018 in NY to take part in a national walkout to protest gun violence, one month after the shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed.

Students all over the country are demanding more congressional action on gun violence.

At Snyder High School, students held up pictures of the victims and released balloons after a moment of silence.

After the poem, the organizers of the walkout read the names of the 17 people who were killed in the February 14 shooting and then held a moment of silence for those victims. They have a heavy responsibility when it comes to their students. “I hope so. I don’t know”.

Antioch High School senior Fares Ali is frustrated that the violence overshadowed what was supposed to be a protest pushing for tougher gun laws and a time to honor the Parkland victims.

“I participated because I wanted to make a change”.

“You’re just like, ooh, wow, OK, I have second period with you and I don’t want you to think I’m trying to destroy your constitutional rights”, she said.

“This is more than just the impact we are having on the policy debate though”.

The massive National School Walkout proves that has changed.

Although many schools utilized staff, local law enforcement, and even volunteers, in order to support the participating students and keep them safe, some schools are under fire for punishing those that chose to participate.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Below: Students from Houghton’s middle and high schools walk around the flagpole Wednesday during a silent 17-minute walkout.

But that doesn’t mean the school did the right thing by issuing truancy warnings to close to 150 students who walked out of class Wednesday to honor the 17 people killed in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting one month ago. During the planned 17-minute silence, the counter protesters continued to shout and yell. In the past five years, there have been 291 school shootings, and we as a nation have become desensitized to the issue. Instead, they knelt in the hallways, a nod to the National Football League protests started by Colin Kaepernick to protest racial inequality and police violence against black people.

“We don’t expect it to happen to us, but it always could”, said sophomore Kaia Schneider.

“The primary objective of the walkout was a remembrance of the 17 lives that were lost due to Parkland”, Watts said.

“Seventeen minutes is a long time, but 17 victims is far too many“, DeVries said. But the students at Pascagoula High School had the full support of their teachers and administrators.

Thursday morning, hundreds of students in towns from Paris to Brunswick added their voices to the movement.

Hudson Catholic Students began the day with events including video presentations, and then a 45-minute prayer service at St. Aedan’s before lining the sidewalk along Bergen Avenue. But the response in states has been more predictable.

“I think that it’s impossible for politicians to continue doing nothing or continue voting down any gun control cause no one really needs an assault rifle, like it’s not really necessary”, Ella said.

Today, #Catholic Schools throughout the Archdiocese of Newark took a stand against gun violence by participating in the #NationalWalkoutDay.