YOUNG GUNS
DELCO HIGH SCHOOLERS READY TO WALK OUT TO FOCUS ON GUNS
Students crowd Unitarian-Univerisalist Church of Delaware County for Delco United’s March meeting, at which young people offered their perspectives on gun safety issues.
March 14 marks the onemonth anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. As a response to the latest massacre, a nationwide walkout has been promoted for 10 a.m. that day for students to pay their respects to the students and staff members who died in with 17 minutes of silence — one for each victim.
In Delaware County students have taken it upon themselves to organize their own walkout events to honor the fallen and to tell their government that there has been enough gun violence in schools.
Garnet Valley, Penncrest, Upper Darby, Haverford, Interboro, Strath Haven, Penn Wood and Springfield are just some of the confirmed high schools that will be taking part in the nationally coordinated effort on Wednesday.
Such an act of remembrance and restrained civil action has come with threats of disciplinary action across the nation for students who anticipate walking out. Most area superintendents have sent out letters to their respective communities expressing their support of the cause, stressing their duty to keep students safe in their planned events while not disrupting instruction time. Almost all events appear restricted to students (and staff) only, without anyone from their respective communities allowed to participate. Involvement in any coordinated event is voluntary.
The student walkout was a topic of discussion during a school safety panel with a dozen high school students on March 5 that was hosted by Delco United for Sensible Gun Policy.
“There’s nothing more powerful than having students and our generation take a stand and let our voice be heard,” said Penncrest student Jordyn Kaplan. “You’re not going to have change if you don’t vocalize that you want it and that we need it. To all of the students who say it’s not going to change anything, you’re flat-out wrong. It’s obviously doing something.”
Strong activism efforts from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students in the last month has received national headlines as they have gone toe-to-toe with the National Rifle Association and other politically influential players. As a result of their cries for better gun control, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday called the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Public Safety Act which raises the age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21, bans the sale and possession of bump stocks, gives leeway for law enforcement to take firearms away from persons with mental illness and offers more money for school mental health assistance and almost $100 million for improved school security.
The law addresses many of the issues that came to head at Parkland, where 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz legally purchased assault rifles even though he was known to have mental health issues. He was expelled from the high school last year.
One provision that didn’t become law was a ban on assault rifles. A week after their school was attacked, Parkland survivors watched from the gallery of the Florida House of Representatives as legislators voted 3671 against such a ban.
The inspiration of those survivors to not back down prompted Strath Haven students Max Carp to act.
“Seeing (Marjory Douglas Stoneman) students and how they can have hope made me feel that it would be selfish for me not to have hope and get active,” he said.
But some of the students noted resistance among their peers to get involved in walkouts. Reasons provided were the lack of change that would come from it or even strong beliefs of their Second Amendment rights.
“Some of my peers aren’t going to participate because they haven’t realized how powerful their voices can be,” Chester STEM at Showalter student Sarrya Friend said. “They haven’t realized all we can do when we come together and speak up about these issues.”
“(Students) don’t realize the urgency of the issue and how terrified some of the students are because they know so much about the issue,” said Sophia Tumolo of Penncrest.
Haverford student Adam Stuck said students may be “misinformed” on some information that’s out there.
“I also found that some of them were stubborn in trying to change their views, which, I admit, most of us are in many ways,” he said, later adding that we all should love each other instead of focusing on the hate that is evident in the country.
Misinformation is what got at least one parent to decry the political overtones of the event.
A parent in Upper Darby believed the district was partnering with a national organization to force a walkout. The parent brought his concerns to the school board at a recent committee meeting where he told them students do not have a right to free speech in school and that he would pull his students out for the day for the district’s alleged “partisan” speech the walkout would instill.
The district denied any involvement with a national organization for a walkout. It was later confirmed that the information he received was from a rogue Facebook account for Drexel Hill Middle School that is not officially recognized by the district.
Dozens of Delco students will be on a bus to the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24. Delco United chartered a coach bus each for Chester, Penncrest, Haverford and Upper Darby high schools to attend the rally.
Approximately 600 March for Our Lives events have been planned worldwide as of Friday evening, according to the event’s website. Local marches that day include one at Rose Tree Park in Media, Norristown Farm Park in Norristown, in downtown West Chester at the old courthouse and Central Bucks High School in Doylestown. Philadelphia will also be hosting its own citywide march.