Students at Somerville High School walked out of school last Wednesday as a statement of solidarity with the shooting victims of Parkland, and to raise awareness of the gun control issue. — Photo by Claudia Ferro

By Jim Clark

Last Wednesday, February 28, students at Somerville High School staged a walkout to protest what was described as a lack of competent gun control laws across the country. More than 400 students left their classrooms at 8:17 a.m. and walked outside where 17 minutes of silence was observed to pay homage to the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, and address the epidemic of mass shootings in the United States.

After the moment of silence, the students marched and chanted while holding signs, then proceeded to a nearby field where they flooded the inboxes of state representatives across the nation, demanding immediate action on the gun control issue.

The movement that has subsequently arisen in response to the Parkland tragedy is being called #walkoutwednesday and is led by a student group calling itself Students Against Gun Violence.

The Somerville students plan to continue the weekly walkouts, and they will be joined by Arlington High School, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, and Granite State Arts Academy in Salem, NH. Students from these schools plan to walk out of school at 8:17 am and sit in silence for 17 minutes.

The next walkout action has been planned for Wednesday, March 7, when Somerville High School and Cambridge Rindge and Latin School will meet in Union Square to call for the Massachusetts Legislature and lobby to pass the Extreme Risk Protective Orders. The ERPO will allow household members or petitioners to report persons in possession of firearms of being an imminent danger to themselves or others. This then allows the police to place a temporary weapons ban on the respondent awaiting a trial within 14 days. The trial determines whether or not the respondent will have a year-long weapons ban placed on them.

Students Against Gun Violence Co-Organizer Sam Dornstein, 15, said, “As students in a state with good gun control, it is important to realize that there is always something to improve, such as, the Extreme Risk Protective Orders introduced here in Massachusetts. Places of education should be sanctuaries, not places of fear.”

Group Co-Organizer Amalia Hochman, 16, said in reference to lawmakers and authority figures, “It’s their responsibility to keep us safe and they haven’t been doing their job.”

Co-Organizer Anika Nayak, 16, said, “Students across the country are legally required to be in schools that representatives refuse to take the action to protect. This movement is not about us as a state it is about us as a country.”

Alexander Levering Kern, the father of one of the organizing students, Elias Kern, said this about the group’s actions: “As a parent, I’ve been overwhelmed to witness the inspired efforts of these young leaders in the lead up as they planned their protest. Seeing hundreds of them walk out, wearing black, crouching in silence for 17 minutes in front of the school was more moving than words can convey. What makes this movement all more powerful is the focus on legislative advocacy. Miraculously, the walkout became a school for engaged democracy, as hundreds of youth sat in the bleachers of Trum Field writing letters, calling legislators, and registering to vote. It is the ultimate teachable moment, with the stakes nothing less than life and death. For the first time in my life, I feel hopeful on this seemingly intractable issue of gun control. As we follow young people’s lead, the generational tide is beginning to turn, and turn in the direction of hope.”

The group has expressed its determination to continue the walkout actions until substantial steps have been taken by lawmakers to improve protections for students and citizens across the nation.