Students Across the Country Are Walking Out of School Today to Demand Action on Guns
Glen Stubbe/ZUMA
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Students across the United States will participate in coordinated school walkouts Wednesday morning to protest gun violence and call on Congress to enact stricter gun legislation after the Parkland, Florida, shooting that occurred exactly one month ago. The historic demonstrations will start at 10 a.m. across every time zone and last 17 minutes to honor the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The protests come as President Donald Trump abandoned his previous calls to raise the minimum age to purchase guns from 18 to 21. The school safety plan put forth by the White House on Sunday was largely viewed as a significant bow to the National Rifle Association.
Mother Jones will provide rolling coverage of the walkouts below. Stay tuned.
10:50 a.m. EST
In addition to the protests, groups of students are also registering to vote Wednesday morning in order to vote lawmakers into office that will act on gun control.
A moment of silence for the 17 lives lost a month ago, followed by an overwhelming amount of students who registered to vote, wrote letters to Reps, and signed a banner honoring Parkland. @NeverAgainMSD we support you❤️ #NationalWalkoutDay #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/lagR9JzxcJ
— Alaena (@Alaena75) March 14, 2018
10:45 a.m. EST
Powerful moment in DC with huge crowd of students sitting with their backs to the White House for 17 minutes of silence. #NationalWalkoutDay #Enough pic.twitter.com/tvP8t80FXE
— Bradley E. Williams (@B_RadWill) March 14, 2018
A walkout in support of gun control at Al-Iman school, the Islamic school that the 2015 Chapel Hill shooting victims attended as children (📷: @taiyyaba) pic.twitter.com/giDkIc6efb
— sara yasin 😐 (@sarayasin) March 14, 2018
10:35 a.m. EST
Meanwhile, Mother Jones fellow Kara Voght is keeping tabs on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on school safety.
Massive line of those hoping to observe the Senate Judiciary’s hearing on school safety. Big showing from @MomsDemand. pic.twitter.com/gk1PPu5OsR
— Kara Voght (@karavoght) March 14, 2018
“I regret that it didn’t get much press, because those shoes were there, and those deaths happened.” – @SenFeinstein’s statements on yesterday’s memorial of 7,000 shoes for gun death victims on the Capitol Lawn. pic.twitter.com/IT94GcZGGG
— Kara Voght (@karavoght) March 14, 2018
10:30 a.m. EST
Several reports on social media are circulating of teachers and school administrators blocking students from participating in the walkouts.
@womensmarch Hawthorne High School has locked us in and blocked all exits not allowing us to participate in the walk out, but we wish to be out there with everyone #WalkoutWednesday #StudentsStandUp #ENOUGH #WalkOut
— Kirsten Butler (@kirst_614) March 14, 2018
@cameron_kasky @AMarch4OurLives @NeverAgainMSD @Emma4Change students at East Greenwich High School in RI were told the walk out was supported. Now they are not being allowed out.
— Odessa (@Odessa_See) March 14, 2018
10:25 a.m. EST
Mother Jones reporter Nathalie Baptiste is at the scene outside the White House.
I’m at the White House where high school kids have gathered for the #NationalSchoolWalkout. They’re observing 17 minutes of silence for the 17 killed in Parkland. pic.twitter.com/Gfe7d7ev7T
— Nathalie Baptiste (@nhbaptiste) March 14, 2018
The march is on the way to the Capitol building #nationalschoolwalkout pic.twitter.com/KdeOuCnVcY
— Nathalie Baptiste (@nhbaptiste) March 14, 2018
These students from Bethesda Chevy Chase High School in MD did *not* get permission to come out here, did it anyway. #NationalSchoolWalkout pic.twitter.com/FFeK7q2HBy
— Nathalie Baptiste (@nhbaptiste) March 14, 2018
10:20 a.m. EST
Lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Murphy, voice their support amid the students’ demonstrations.
In honor of the #NationalSchoolWalkout and the 17 students & teachers killed in Parkland, I’m heading to the Senate floor to read the names of victims of gun violence.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 14, 2018
On the ground in Zuccotti Park as part of #NationalWalkoutDay is @NYGovCuomo with students at Leadership and Public Service HS in Lower Manhattan #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/KrG3BrBvbZ
— Andrew Siff (@andrewsiff4NY) March 14, 2018
I stand with these children. #NotOneMore
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) March 14, 2018
10:15 a.m. EST
11th grader Gabe Gurulé is walking out today for his his little brother who will be starting school next yr – he doesn’t want the future kindergartener to live in a world where he has to worry about someone w an ar15 coming into a classroom. pic.twitter.com/VdFhuxCMct
— Allie Gross (@Allie_Elisabeth) March 14, 2018
Pretty remarkable over a 1,000 students sitting down and in silence for 6 mins now. #NYC School #Walkout with LaGuardia High School #Parkland #fightingGunViolence pic.twitter.com/azmqPAfwtk
— Marta Dhanis (@MartaDhanis) March 14, 2018
students walking out of Bedford Academy High in Bed-stuy (they have some classes inside the YMCA) pic.twitter.com/246wODMvJf
— Emma Whitford (@emma_a_whitford) March 14, 2018
Beacon students are now holding up orange sheets of paper in solidarity with Parkland, observing 17 seconds of silence for the 17 students killed, along with students across the country. pic.twitter.com/TtlueyFdPj
— Cora Lewis (@cora) March 14, 2018
10:10 a.m. EST
Some students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are participating in the protests. David Hogg, who has been outspoken about Congress’ inaction, provides a live stream (below) of the event:
10:05 a.m. EST
Protests on the east coast have taken off:
Students from Center For Inquiry school 2 have begun their walkout and march in downtown Indianapolis pic.twitter.com/CEl6LQvfS5
— Justin L. Mack (@justinlmack) March 14, 2018
East Lansing High School Students walking out of classes join in the National School Walkout. Reading the names of the victims of school shooting #ELHS #MSU #NationalSchoolWalkout #NeverAgain #Enough #ReClaimMSU pic.twitter.com/xN3dxMMipB
— Glenn R. Stutzky (@stutzky) March 14, 2018
9:55 a.m. EST
Several protests are already underway, including one that will take students to the White House.
STUDENT DEMONSTRATORS HEAD TO WHITE HOUSE: Students at Montgomery Blair High School began their National School Walkout demonstrations just after 8 a.m. by staging a march from their Silver Spring campus that will take them to the White House. WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/jZtf1Tvkgv pic.twitter.com/k4Et518Hvm
— FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) March 14, 2018
Covering a walkout this morning at an elementary school in Virginia, and the 11-year-old organizers had a press packet ready for me. pic.twitter.com/eeElhGciid
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) March 14, 2018
“It could have been any one of us that Parkland shooting and that Sandy Hook shooting, so I think it’s important for us to be out here for voicing their opinions, and just to get something done,” said a freshman student from Blair High School. #NationalWalkoutDay pic.twitter.com/nM16TvumrM
— WUSA9 (@wusa9) March 14, 2018
Savva, also 15, is outside the White House too. He thinks that the influence of the NRA is preventing change pic.twitter.com/4HNfJ2RAZz
— Kayla Epstein 📰 (@KaylaEpstein) March 14, 2018
Students at Warwick High School walking out of class right now. Principal expecting around 600 or more. #13NewsNow #NationalWalkOutDay pic.twitter.com/VJsag68vWK
— Niko Clemmons 13News Now (@13nikoclemmons) March 14, 2018
