Students plan to join national walkout over gun control
HENRICO, VA (WWBT) - The emotional cry for tougher gun control has intensified with student protests nationwide, from Florida, to the U.S. capitol, and on high school campuses. Students are staging walkouts, urging lawmakers to take action and not just send prayers.
Students from Freeman High School in Henrico plan to join a national school walkout on the one-month anniversary of the massacre in Florida, March 14. There is also a walkout planned for April 20, the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
The planned protest events are circulating heavily on social media.
Maxwell Nardi is a senior at Freeman High School. Nardi is helping students join the protests, saying they plan to stand outside for 17 minutes, one minute for each of the 17 victims in Parkland, Florida.
"Some form of action needs to be definitively taken, and we're going to fight for that until we ensure that every school can be safe…and every kid, whether it be in Richmond or Florida or Columbine, can finally be in a school environment that they can know they won't be shot at," said Nardi, with a crowd of students supporting the movement.
The ACLU of Virginia has announced it will offer support to students who participate in demonstrations against gun violence. In a news release, the ACLU said, "Students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."
The group did note that school attendance is required by Virginia law and schools can punish students who are absent, but it emphasized to school officials that any punishment should be consistent with existing truancy rules and should not be based on a student's participation in an organized event.
The huge crowd of students made demands to the school board on Thursday night, saying they want to be able to peacefully express their frustrations about school safety.
"I, along with students across the county, ask again that you create a policy letting us have a voice when we need it the most, rather than forcing us to stay silent," said a student at the meeting. "We are not afraid of the possible consequences if you should choose to remain against us. Rosa Parks, MLK and Henry David Thoreau, the very people you teach us to follow have proven that acting in peaceful protest works."
After hearing from student after student, that's when the superintendent decided to intervene.
"I've heard several times tonight something about suspensions - we've had no conversations about suspensions," said Dr. Patrick Kinlaw.
Dr. Kinlaw told the students he's proud they want to take action.
"We're preparing some information to share with schools to provide guidance on how to support what you want to do. We just want to make sure that in the process of showing support, that you're safe in how we proceed," said Dr. Kinlaw.
The superintendent's response was welcomed by the large group that showed up. One student added, "We don't want to work against you. We want to work with you but we will work in spite of you."
President Trump has promised to strengthen some gun laws, despite opposition from the NRA.
"We're going to do strong background checks. We're going to work on getting the age up to 21 instead of 18. We're getting rid of the bump stocks, and we're going to be focusing very strongly on mental health, because here's a case of mental health," said President Trump.
The leader of the National Rifle Association spoke publicly Thursday for the first time since the Florida mass shooting at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida. LaPierre said existing laws are routinely violated by criminal gunmen, and the FBI failed to prevent the shooting. He also accused gun control activists as exploiting the tragedy for political gain, saying they care more about reducing individual liberties than protecting children.
"They want to sweep right under the carpet the failure of school security, the failure of family, the failure of America's mental health system and even the unbelievable failure of the FBI," said LaPierre.
Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement claiming the NRA is "spewing pathetic, out-of-touch ideas" and blaming "everything but guns."
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