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High school students are walking for gun violence prevention

Feb. 23, 2018
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Since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last Wednesday, the entire nation has been discussing gun regulation and school safety. Students in particular have been a vocal faction, taking to Twitter and other platforms to express their concerns. Nobody has been more vocal than the students and faculty of Stoneman Douglas themselves. From speaking to reporters to giving speeches at rallies, the students have actively been advocating against loose gun regulations. 

This week, the student leaders of Marjory Stoneman have put forth a new activist effort: the March for Our Lives is a march on Washington, D.C. planned for March 24th. The march was announced Sunday on Fox News by students Cameron Kasky, David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez, Alex Wind, and Jaclyn Corin.

via: AP

On their website, the group claims that “[t]he mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues. No special interest group, no political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country.”

 March for Our Lives isn’t the only youth protest in the works on the issue of gun violence. The National School Walkout, organized by Women’s March Youth EMPOWER, is being held on March 14th ( the one-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting). Starting as a Facebook event, the walkout quickly picked up steam and there are now multiple protests sprouting up across the country. Protesters will walk out of class at 10:00 A.M. for seventeen minutes to represent the seventeen students killed in the shooting. 

Also calling itself theNational School Walkout, this independent school walkout is set for April 20th, the nineteen-year anniversary of the Columbine shooting.  This one will also occur at 10:00 A.M. and calls for students to “sit outside their schools and peacefully protest.” They have an online petition with over 78,000 signatures of their 150,000 goal. 

All three protests have expressed their support for one another, with the leaders of the the National School Walkout and Women’s March Youth Empower signing a joint statement about how proud they are to participate in their mission together. 

“We want to live,” they say in the statement. ”We want to learn. Please support us.”