By Daniel Guerrero
Hundreds of students around Orange and Los Angeles counties – including those from Esparanza, Cerritos, Troy and Fullerton Union high schools – took to the front lawns of their schools Wednesday, many waving signs and singing chants aimed at curbing gun violence on campuses.
Students across the country left their classes for 17 minutes to honor the 17 victims of the Feb. 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. More than 100 students gathered outside Fullerton Union’s campus on Chapman Avenue in Fullerton – holding signs reading “My life matters more than your gun,” “Why wait for it to be too late?” and “We call B.S.” One student – senior Rebecca Tell, 18 – said she attended the event to honor victims and survivors.
The Stoneman Douglas shooting, in Parkland, Florida, follows others like it, including an incident at North Park elementary in San Bernardino last year and shootings at Sandy Hook elementary in 2012 and Columbine high in 1999.
The Parkland, Florida, high school shooting last month has sparked a movement from a group many would not expect. The “never again” movement isn’t being led by politicians, teachers or even parents; It is led by the classmates of the Parkland victims.
The local movement that has gone national is pressuring both local and federal politicians to beef up gun control laws.
“My generation has not been known for stuff like that,” said 17-year-old Stone Sheridan, a local student interviewed recently about the prospect of upcoming walkouts. He said the walkouts could be a “wowing” moment.
Another walkout planned for April 20 has over 1,400 schools signed up. It falls on the nineteenth anniversary of the Columbine shooting.
Since Columbine, there have been 25 fatal school shootings in the United States, according to Aol.com and Fox News Anchor Shepard Smith. But now, young people are speaking up in hopes that Parkland will be the last – in hopes that a school shooting will never happen again.