Peace in the Face of Violence: Students Walkout Over Gun Control

February 21, 2018 School Shooting

On Wednesday, students across the country stood in solidarity when they help nationwide walkouts at their schools to push for gun control. These acts of protest occurred following the Parkland School Shooting in Florida.  Many students also took to holding protests outside of political offices. They didn’t need thoughts and prayers from Congress, they needed commonsense gun control passed.

Several survivors of the shooting spoke to CNN, one of whom told the reporters,

“This is not just another mass shooting. No shooting is just another mass shooting. This needs to be a turning point. […] Cause this can happen and it will happen again if they just make false promises and don’t take action. Because ideas without action remain ideas, and when that happens, children die.”

And while schools are supposed to be places where we teach students how to create change in the world, many went on record to threaten to suspend any student who participated. But thankfully we live in a world where strangers will help:

These protests even took place outside the White House where many students stood with creative signs like the one seen below.

But issues like this bring up real questions: Why does it seem our government cares more about gun ownership than student’s safety? If it is as simple as receiving donations from the NRA, why is it that easy to buy someone out?

But most importantly: When will we see real comprehensive gun control reform? Hopefully these nationwide walkouts show what the future of our country wants and soon Congress will listen to them.

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Nicole Masaki is a 2018 graduate ofCanisius College in Buffalo, New York. She is a triple major in English, Environmental Studies, and Philosophy. She will be a first year grad student at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Fransisco for their MA in Anthropology and Social Change program.

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