“Fed Up’ With Gun Violence, Students Demand Action Organizes More Than 300 Walkouts From Schools Around the Country to Demand Lawmaker Action

Walkouts Are Part of Week of Action Organized by Students Demand Action, Moms Demand Action Following Deadly Shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee

Moms Demand Action Volunteers Will Also Be Mobilizing to Call for Lawmaker Action by Holding Rallies, Testifying at Hearings, Meeting with other Advocates to Call for Immediate Action

NEW YORK — Today, as part of a week of action organized by Students Demand Action and Moms Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network, students walked out of class at more than 300 schools in 40 states and Washington, D.C. to call on lawmakers to take life-saving action on gun safety. The walkouts came just a week after a shooter opened fire at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, killing six people, including three young children. Right now, state legislatures around the country have the opportunity to pass common-sense gun safety laws that would save lives, but in many states, lawmakers are moving backwards and considering dangerous legislation that would further weaken gun laws in places that already see high rates of gun violence. 

In response, Students Demand Action volunteers showed up in the thousands during school walkouts today. They turned out in force in Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, California, New York, and Texas — among many other states — to demand that lawmakers meet this moment with urgency and instead pass common-sense policies to save lives. 

“Young people are fed up with lawmakers offering us thoughts and prayers with no action to back it up,” said Presely Spiller, a volunteer with Students Demand Action in Tennessee. “We deserve to be safe in our schools, to learn and grow up without having to live in fear of gun violence. The young faces you see, the thousands of us walking out to call for change, will not back down. We aren’t the next generation — we are today’s changemakers, and we won’t stop showing up to demand better.”

So far this year, there have been at least 39 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 17 deaths and 30 injuries nationally. But mass shootings and school shootings represent only a fraction of the gun violence that impacts young Americans every single day in their homes, neighborhoods, and so many other places that should be safe. Every day in America, 120 people die from gun violence, hundreds more are wounded, and countless others witness acts of gun violence. The impacts of this crisis are shaping an entire generation of Americans.

Even as young people continue to be disproportionately impacted by gun violence, they are also leading the fight to end it. Gun violence is the number one killer of children, teens, and college-aged youth in America — but young people all around the country are fighting back and standing on the frontlines of the gun safety movement.

If you would like to speak with a Students Demand Action volunteer, please do not hesitate to reach out.