Students Across the U.S. Protest Against Gun Violence    

Tens of thousands of students, inspired by a growing protest movement over gun violence, stood up in their classrooms on Wednesday and walked out of their schools. They joined a nationwide demonstration one month after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The protests—which lasted 17 minutes, one minute for each of the Parkland victims—were intended to pressure Congress to approve gun control legislation in the aftermath of the Florida school shooting. The school walkouts are taking place 10 days before a march on Washington, D.C.—planned for March 24—to continue pressing lawmakers for action on guns and school safety.

Just hours after the walkouts began, Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old accused of carrying out the shooting at Stoneman Douglas, was scheduled to appear in a Florida courtroom. Prosecutors said Tuesday they intend to seek the death penalty against Cruz. 

On Wednesday morning, Stoneman Douglas senior Delaney Tarr tweeted encouragement to student activists across the country: “You have such a STRONG voice. Keep using it. Keep marching. Keep walking out. Cause some good trouble.”

The first large wave of students began to leave their classrooms at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. Across the country, other students planned to walk out at 10 a.m. in their local time zones.

“Students don’t get to voice their opinion very often and it’s thrilling to be one of the millions across the United States who will have that option,” says Katie Cummins, a high school student in Louisville, Kentucky, about why she participated in the walkout. “The students at Stoneman Douglas who have spoken out and become activists are incredibly inspiring.”

In Littleton, Colorado, students at Columbine High School left their classrooms to begin 30 seconds of silence: 17 for the dead in Parkland and another 13 for those killed at their own school in the 1999 shooting.

Students from two high schools near Columbine also walked out. Sam Craig, 15, a student at Chatfield High School in Littleton, said he was motivated to act after watching the videos coming out of Parkland.

“We saw people in classrooms just like ours, wearing clothes just like ours," he said. "They looked like they could have been any one of us at any of our schools.”

Across the country, school administrators struggled with how to respond. Some districts have supported walkouts, while others have threatened disciplinary action against students who participate.

In Sayreville, New Jersey, where students have been threatened with suspension if they were to walk out, the president of the school board, Kevin Ciak, said last month, “if we decide that we open this door, we open this door to allow students to basically walk out and protest anything.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (A.C.L.U.), which offered training to students planning to participate in the walkouts, said that districts can discipline students under typical attendance guidelines. “But what they can’t do,” the A.C.L.U. wrote in a guide for student protesters, “is discipline you more harshly because of the political nature of or the message behind your action.”

Many colleges, meanwhile, have said that high school students disciplined for protesting will not have it counted against them when they apply for admission.

In other districts, administrators helped students organize and carry out the walkouts.

In Newtown, Connecticut, where 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, hundreds of students filed out of Newtown High School just moments before 10 a.m. and gathered in a parking lot near the football field. Some held posters. Organizers said they planned to recite the names of victims of gun violence.

The district’s interim superintendent, Lorrie Rodrigue, said that school officials had “worked closely with student leaders to create a time for respectful student expression.” Rodrigue said she viewed the protests as an extension of social studies classes.

Regardless of how many students participate in the walkout, it’s unlikely that officials in Washington, D.C., will quickly heed the demands of the students. On Monday, President Donald Trump seemed to retreat from his earlier pledge to seek national-level reforms that the National Rifle Association (NRA) opposed.

Some action has occurred on the state level, however. Last week, Florida raised the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 and extended the waiting period to three days. The NRA has sued Florida over the age requirement, saying it violates the Second Amendment.

For more on student activism in the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas shooting and related resources, click here.

Discussion Questions

1. Why did tens of thousands of students across the country walk out of their classrooms on March 14?

2. What did Parkland senior Delaney Tarr mean when she tweeted that the students should “cause some good trouble”?

3. What did Katie Cummins mean when she said, “Students don’t get to voice their opinions very often”?

4. How have school officials responded to the walkout and why?

5. What progress have the Parkland students achieved in their call for tighter gun laws?