Some of Tritons students and staff participated in a walk out. The walk out lasted 17 minutes, one minute for each life that was taken in the Parkland shooting and the last two minutes were spent in silence to honor those who died.
On February 14th at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, a mass shooting took place, taking the lives of 17 innocent students, teachers and staff. This event has raised awareness and concern to many people all over the country about gun laws and school safety. By taking a stand and fighting for a change, students protested against gun laws all over the country including Triton.
“I feel that the walkout brought everyone together,” says Mackenna Faucher. “It was nice to take time and think about the people’s lives that were lost because teachers didn’t really talk about that with us, we talked about the safety but we didn’t recognize the lives that were taken so I thought that was nice. With gun laws, I don’t think we need to go to extremes and make guns illegal but I also don’t think what’s working right now is good so I think there should be more regulations and making sure we’re checking for signs in order to keep everyone safe.”
The original walkout was suppose. To be on March 13th, but due to snow days and school being cancelled, some students walked out the following day but not many were aware of the event. Vice President of Student Council, Lily Fulford, wrote a speech for the original walkout and gave her opinion on the matter.
“With each school shooting, we become more and more numb as a nation. While the families, friends, and neighbors of victims spend the rest of their life mourning,” says Lily Fullford. What if I told you that there was an average of one school shooting a week in 2015? And what if I told you that there have been 50 attempts of mass murder at schools or colleges since 1999? A quick search on ABC news will give you these statistics, yet as a nation we are in denial. It is sickening that these horrible acts of violence can occur however it is even more unsettling people turn their backs after offering only a few short minutes of ‘thoughts and prayers.’ It is no longer the time for “thoughts and prayers” alone. It is time for action and change. The time for silence has ended and the time for change has only just begun.”
One of Tritons High school vice principals sat down with Triton Voice and spoke about the impact it would have had if more students and staff members would have know about the walk out, more people would have been able to get involved.
“I think more students obviously would have chosen to be involved in the walkout. The original plan was that students would walk out and meet in the gym and there was a planned speech that would have been much more impactful and I think more student should have engaged in that together if it was more known,” says Assistant Principal Kathlyn Daw.
Students across the nation are protesting for stricter gun laws to make sure it’s harder for people to accumulate any kind of guns and so people buying a gun have to pass a psychological test to make sure they are mentally stable.
According to WCVB, students from Boston, Worcester, Springfield and Holyoke are expected to rally for an hour outside the Springfield headquarters of Smith & Wesson to demand a meeting with the gun manufacturer’s chief executive to discuss how the manufacturer can “help reduce gun violence.” The students also want to make sure that the gun violence issues they say are unique to their communities, are part of the debate around gun laws.
“I am very supportive of the 2nd Amendment. More attention must be put on the “well-regulated” element of it. For example, background checks, and the systems that feed in to them, need to be strengthened. I can’t imagine why that can’t have widespread support. I also think there is a limit to what a citizen should have access to. Certain weapons are necessary for certain roles within a functional society, highly trained roles, and the average person does not need the same access. I mean, I have a driver’s license but I’m not rolling up to school in a tank,” says Margaret Flaherty one of Triton high schools English teachers who helped organize the walk out and had her class make posters.
“Nowadays there’s students all over the country that don’t feel safe in their own school and it is not okay that the thought of a possible shooting are the things going through teenagers heads,” says Sarah Gilbert. “When participating in the walkout, I felt it was really important to take the time out of my day and honor those who died in Florida, it was a tragic event and something our generation needs to take a stand and protest against. With stricter gun laws, school shootings will be less likely and innocent lives won’t be taken on the regular. It devastates me that shootings have been occurring for so long and yet nothing has changed, so by participating in the walk out I was honored to be a part of something I stand for and recognize the lives that were lost.”