The National School Walkout Led By Students Protesting Gun Violence

By Katie Reilly and Kim Bubello

Thousands of students marched out of their classrooms on Wednesday during a national walkout to demand action on gun violence — one month after 17 people were killed in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

About 3,000 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas marched onto the school’s football field, and many continued on to a park where 17 crosses had been planted in honor of each victim. “It’s been a month and maybe some people have forgotten, but we’re still here,” senior Taylor Morales, who participated in the Parkland walkout, told TIME earlier on Wednesday.

In Washington, D.C., hundreds of students rallied outside the White House and U.S. Capitol, where Democratic lawmakers joined them in demanding gun control legislation.

At other middle schools and high schools across the country — from Littleton, Colorado to New York City to Portland, Maine— students as young as 11 years old walked out of class, marched on state capitol buildings and held moments of silence for the Parkland victims. In some school districts, they did so under threat of suspension.

“Adults don’t think of children as people,” 11th grader Jasmine Johnson told TIME during a walkout in New York City on Wednesday. “Our view of what happens now is more important than theirs, because we are the future.”

 Northwestern students joined college and high school students from some 200 schools around the country on Wednesday, walking out of class to make a statement and demand action to control gun violence.

They began by reciting the names of the six people killed in last week’s school shooting in Nashville.

“This is really just the student’s way of saying we will not continue to let this happen,” said Lily Cohen, Students Demand Action. “We need to do something about it and we need to be the generation to stop this.”

In February, a gunman killed three students and injured five others on the campus at Michigan State University. Some Northwestern students say they worry it could happen here and want to be part of the solution.

“I feel like numbers matter, so the more people reach out, the likelier that’ll come,” said Jung Yean, a Northwestern sophomore.

The students say gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and teens in this country. There have been more than 130 mass shootings with four or more people shot in the U.S. so far this year, and nearly 10,000 people killed by gun violence so far in 2023.

Rachel Goldsmith was there out of concern for the safety of her 7-year-old son, a first grader.

“I’m anxious every day I send him to school,” Goldsmith said.

Rally organizers are urging students and parents to contact lawmakers with their concerns.