NC State students will walk out of class on April 20 to stand in solidarity with victims of mass shootings and to call on legislators to pass meaningful laws to make schools safer.
The protest is being organized by Jena Phillips, a second-year studying political science. Phillips said she organized the event because she and her peers feel unsafe in school.
“We don’t feel safe,” Phillips said. “We shouldn’t not feel safe when we’re trying to work through our education.”
The walkout will occur on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. Students will leave their classes at 10 a.m. and walk out to the Court of North Carolina and stand in solidarity with the victims and survivors of the Columbine shooting, as well as other school shootings since then across the nation.
Phillips said one reason for organizing the walkout was to raise awareness on what to do in the case of a shooter on campus.
“I met with the chancellor and we were talking about safety on campus,” Phillips said. “They do have active shooter training, but as a student, I have never experienced any training of that type. If a shooter were to come onto campus, I don’t know what to do. Would I run into a building? Out of a building?”
The walkout is part of a national movement to stand against gun violence and will last about one hour.
Michael Meloy, a fourth-year student in inter-college transfer and a former military service member, said that he is a gun rights supporter, but would support some meaningful legislation to limit access to firearms.
“I would like to see the focus shift more from gun control and legislating cosmetic things to more gun licensing,” Meloy said. “I don’t understand how I can’t get behind the wheel of a car without getting a license, but I can go out and buy a handgun without proving I know how to operate that handgun and I know the laws surrounding that handgun.”
Throughout schools and cities across the nation, students have begun a movement calling for legislators to restrict gun access. Activists have called for a wide range of potential solutions, from background checks to disarming the police.
Meloy said he was in the military and is familiar with firearms and their hazards. He said that in order for school shooting to decrease, licensing to buy guns or firearms should be stricter.
“Why is licensing never talked about? You need to be able to prove that you know how to maintain it, clean it, fire it so I can hit what I want to hit, and I need to know the laws surrounding it,” Meloy said. “Prove that you know how to use this thing.”
One of the most prevalent requests from protestors is for that of some level of restriction on firearms’ accessibility. Malvika Mishra, a graduate student studying mechanical engineering, said that she would like to see more discretion when giving weapons to people.
“The first thing: guns shouldn’t be available so easily, so that anybody can just get ahold of them,” Mishra said.
In the same vein, Phillips said she believes lawmakers should be more proactive in preventing these issues before they become real threats to student safety.
“[Safety] shouldn’t be something that I’m concerned about as a student,” Phillips said. “That shouldn’t be something I’m worried about while I’m here to get my education and to better myself as a person. I shouldn’t be worried about losing my life when I step onto campus.”
Students can visit the NC State National Student Walkout Facebook page for more information.
