Students walk out to protest gun violence
Some Saratoga Springs High School students missed school Friday to participate in the nation-wide walkout on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
The nation-wide activities Friday marked the latest round of gun-control activism following the February shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
The protests were chosen to line up with the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, which left 13 people dead in Littleton, Colorado. At 10 a.m. in each time zone, students at dozens of schools left class to take moments of silence honoring the victims at Columbine and other shootings.
From there, some students headed to rallies at their statehouses. Others stayed at school to discuss gun violence. Some were holding voting registration drives.
Padraig Bond, a junior at Saratoga Springs High School, organized the event at the steps of City Hall where
15 students and adults gave speeches or sang songs, urging people to work to change gun laws in the U.S.
“We are here today for a couple reasons. The first one, which is more immediate, is we are looking for gun control legislation to protect our schools, our homes, our streets. It’s what the American people want, and it’s what we’re going to get,” said Bond. “The second one is going to take a little bit more time, but we’re looking to involve students in activism and in politics, because our young generation is about to be stepping into the threshold of American politics claiming our right to vote, and we need to be ready for it. The country is about to be handed down to us, and today is one of the first steps of us being ready for it.”
Saratoga Springs City School District said April 20 will be treated like a normal school day, so students would face the same disciplinary consequences as they would on any other school day.
Students who participated in Friday’s walkout received an unexcused absence from school.
“You don’t ask permission to protest, said Bond. “...Everybody knows that this is what has to happen. Whether the establishment or the school wants it to, it’s going to. If you look at the turnout today, I don’t think people are very afraid of being reprimanded.”
Mayor Meg Kelly, and former Mayor Joanne Yepsen, were in attendance Friday morning. Kelly encouraged the crowd of more than 50 students to register to vote, while noting the city recently banned the sale of guns and ammunition at the City Center.
Students lined Broadway immediately outside City Hall. A police presence was on- scene throughout the two-hour event.
Brianna Dungate, a senior, told the crowd that this isn’t a call to ban guns. Dungate recognized New York having strict gun control already, but she wants to see the nation ban assault weapons, enforce a universal background check, a high-capacity magazine ban and for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to be allowed to study gun violence in America.
Bond said nothing concrete is planned as far as additional protests, but we’re looking towards something.
Although Bond led the event, he saw it as a group effort.
“I have been inspired by the students aroundme, by the Parkland students being so articulate and role models,” said Bond. “We’re all a united front, and we’re helping each other put this together.” Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.