A couple of days back, the Florida school shooter was brought before the judge for his punishment, with the prosecutors aiming for a death penalty.
But does this bring a change in the existing laws for acquiring a gun?
“Never Again” and “Am I next?” with these messages on signs, the students walked out of the classrooms, bowing their heads in honor of the dead.They railed against the National Rifle Association and the politicians who support it.
And over and over, they repeated the message — Enough is enough.
In what the historians call the largest protest of its kind in American history thousands of students walked out of their classrooms on Wednesday, demanding action on gun violence and school safety.
The demonstrations extended from Maine to Hawaii as students joined the youth-led surge of activism set off by the February 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
“We’re sick of it,” said Maxwell Nardi, a senior at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico, Virginia, just outside Richmond. “We’re going to keep fighting, and we’re not going to stop until Congress finally makes resolute changes.”
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Students around the nation left class at 10 a.m. local time for at least 17 minutes one minute for each of the dead in the Florida shooting. Some led marches or rallied on football fields, while others gathered in school gyms or took a knee in the hallway.
At some schools, hundreds of students poured out. At others, just one or two walked out in defiance of administrators.
They lamented that too many young people have died and that they’re tired of going to school afraid they will be killed.
“Enough is enough. People are done with being shot,” said Iris Fosse-Ober, 18, a senior at Washburn High School in Minneapolis.
READ ALSO: ‘March for our Lives’; mass shooting survivor holds procession
Some issued specific demands for lawmakers, including mandatory background checks for all gun sales and a ban on assault weapons like the one used in the Florida bloodbath.
While administrators and teachers at some schools applauded students for taking a stand and some joined them others threatened punishment for missing class.
As the demonstrations unfolded, the NRA responded by posting a photo on Twitter with the caption:
I’ll control my own guns, thank you. #2A #NRA pic.twitter.com/jqbZzwcWf6
— NRA (@NRA) March 14, 2018
The protests took place at schools from the elementary level through college, including some that have witnessed their own mass shootings- About 300 students gathered on a soccer field at Colorado’s Columbine High, while students who survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack in 2012 marched out of Newtown High School in Connecticut.
In the nation’s capital, more than 2,000 high-school age protesters observed 17 minutes of silence while sitting on the ground with their backs turned to the White House. President Donald Trump was out of town.
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