STUDENTS: ‘WE HAVE A VOICE’
Gun violence is focal point of youth rally at SFHS
Some students wept. Others screamed. They all accused adults of not doing enough to protect them.
Emotions varied Thursday during a student-driven rally at Santa Fe High School against gun violence, but the teens had a unified message to share: Kids are getting gunned down in schools across the U.S., and no responsible adults are doing anything to stop it.
“Are your guns more important than our lives?” Santa Fe High senior Sophie Colson asked dozens of students and employees gathered outside the school’s library for the noon rally.
Many of the students who spoke at the event echoed comments made earlier this week by other high-schoolers who appealed to members of the Santa Fe school board, asking them to start lobbying for tougher gun laws.
The local teens’ efforts come in the wake of a mass shooting in mid-February at a high school in Parkland, Fla., in which a former student is accused of killing 17 people and wounding nearly as many with a semiautomatic weapon.
While similar school shootings in the nation in recent years — including a 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults — have prompted calls for more stringent gun control laws, the fierce debate has died down each time with little to no action, only to flare up again after another tragedy. The Florida attack, in contrast, has galvanized youth across the U.S. to demand political action.
Teen survivors from the Parkland high school spurred the initiative, saying they won’t back down on their protests until lawmakers pass legislation restricting some types of firearms and expanding background checks.
Lax gun laws make it “easier for me to own a gun than to own a dog,” said Santa Fe High junior Joy Farkas, who helped organize Thursday’s event. Farkas told the crowd she has studied every geographical facet of the school’s sprawling campus to map out her escape route, should a shooter launch an attack.
“I am frustrated that is something I have to plan for,” she said.
“We have a voice,” Farkas added. “And if we let this [movement] die out, nothing is going to change, and more people are going to end up dead.”
During the rally, many students signed a petition promising to report anything suspicious on campus, including threats posted on social media and any written or verbal threats — whether they are obviously fake or perceived to be real.
The event came amid heightened concern about school safety, largely because of a series of shooting threats last week at schools around New Mexico, including one at Ortiz Middle School that led to a 12-year-old student’s arrest and a social media message that appeared to target Santa Fe High — but turned out to be a recycled Snapchat post targeting an Ohio school.
Some rallygoers railed against peers who have been using social media to circulate false threats or joke about killing people. Teens who pull such pranks should be punished, the students said.
Other students asked for more support for those struggling with mental health issues.
Most students who spoke at the rally — including a few who said they back an interpretation of the Second Amendment that guarantees Americans the right to own firearms — urged a ban on sales of so-called assault weapons.
And no one liked the idea of arming teachers, as President Donald Trump and other politicians have suggested.
One girl, in tears, said one of her teachers said she would quit her job if she were forced to pack a sidearm.
School district leaders have said they don’t plan to allow teachers to bring firearms into their classrooms, but they are considering a number of other new safety initiatives, including hiring armed guards, installing new automatically locking doors, reconfiguring the expansive Santa Fe High campus to further limit access and holding active-shooter training drills for students.
When one student at Thursday’s rally suggested the district engage students in those drills, she received a round of applause and cheers.
Farkas said Santa Fe High students plan to take part in a nationwide 17-minute school walkout scheduled for 10 a.m. March 14 in honor of the 17 Florida victims. Earlier this week, the school board voted to approve supporting student and staff participation in that event, as long as students do not leave campus.
Responding to criticism by some adults that students could use the walkout as an excuse to take a break from class or ditch school, Santa Fe High student Ashleigh Jaramillo, her voice quivering with emotion, said that was an “outrageous” accusation.
“We are terrified for our lives,” she told Thursday’s crowd. “This is our second home here. We should be safe here.”