Thoughts and prayers after a school shooting are not enough, student activists are saying.
Students Demand Action officials are calling for a national walkout at noon to protest school shootings.
A number of high schools across the metro Denver area will be participating. But not East High School, where students staged two walks last month alone.
Formed in 2016 as a pilot program, Students Demand Action now has more than 600 groups across the country, including Colorado.
The organization is pressing to educate, register and mobilize peers to elect local, state and national politicians who will enact “common-sense gun laws.”
More than two dozen Colorado schools are expected to participate in the walkout, six in Denver and the metro area, Isabel Aptman, a midwest spokesperson, said in an email to The Denver Gazette.
Among those participating include students at George Washington High School, Aurora Central High School, Sand Creek High School in Colorado Springs and the University of Denver.
"Our country is stuck in a seemingly endless cycle," said Caroline Mabey, a 15-year-old sophomore at George Washington High School. "We refuse to accept that this is the best that we can get."
Firearms replaced motor vehicle crashes in 2020 as the leading cause of death among U.S. children and adolescents, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
In 2020 alone, there were more than 45,000 firearm-related deaths in the U.S. That equates to roughly 124 deaths each day.
Student organizers at Broomfield High School intend to walk out because they’re exhausted and terrified, saying they were “Fed up with the thoughts and prayers without meaningful action. Fed up with law makers putting the gun lobby before our safety. Fed up with the gun industry innovating to make their guns deadlier. And fed up with guns being #1 killer of our generation.”
Editor’s note: Class Notes is a recurring update on area school districts from education reporter Nicole C. Brambila.
