Students organizing nationwide walkout over gun violence

Students across the Triangle and across the country are planning a walkout next week to protest gun violence at schools.

Posted 9:44 p.m. Mar 8, 2018 — Updated 6:07 p.m. Jul 13, 2018

Matthew Burns

, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor

RALEIGH, N.C. — Students across the Triangle and across the country are planning a walkout next week to protest gun violence at schools.

The coordinated walkouts at 10 a.m. next Wednesday mark the one-month anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

At least two dozen schools in Wake, Durham, Cumberland, Orange, Chatham and Lee counties have said they are participating in the 17-minute walkout to honor the 17 victims of the Florida shooting.

"We need action. Students and allies are organizing the national school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship," organizers said on a website encouraging people to join the walkout.

"Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school," organizers said. "Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day."

Coincidentally, the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for the same day to focus on the reported failure of the FBI and law enforcement to follow up on red flags raised about the accused Florida shooter, as well as on school safety and possible gun legislation.

Green Hope High School students gather on the football field during a Feb. 28, 2018 walkout to protest gun violence.

A number of schools have held walkouts on their own in recent weeks, but the March 14 event appears to be the first coordinated effort to press for stricter gun laws.

Survivors of the Florida shooting also are organizing a March 24 "March for Our Lives" rally in Washington, D.C., that is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people calling for Congress to pass gun control legislation.

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