SoCal students join nationwide walkout against gun violence in schools
BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) -- Students in Southern California joined their peers across the country on Friday, walking out of the classroom to protest gun violence and call for stricter gun control measures.
The walkouts follow the shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school last week, which left two students dead and 21 others injured.
Eyewitness News joined John Burroughs High School students in Burbank who participated in the school walkout. They marched more than a mile to Burbank City Hall as part of their efforts to demand action against gun violence.
With their chants and signs, they sent lawmakers and everyone a clear message. Their signs read, "I don't want to die in my classroom" and "No more bulletproof backpacks."
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Some of the students who spoke with Eyewitness News say they've been aware of school shootings for as long as they can remember, and that, although they have gotten used to it, it should not be that way.
"That's the last thing you want to expect is to walk into school and see your teacher, see your friends, and something happens like a mass shooting," said student Ella Herran.
"This is all I can do before I can vote is I have to get out there, and I have to let people know how I feel, and having everybody here today is a real privilege, honestly," said student Apollo Kumar, who organized the John Burroughs High School walkout. "It won't change until we have national legislature that protects us."
"It's terrifying that we even have to talk about this, because no child should be worried when going to school, just going to a building to learn, that they may not come back home," said student Sarah Debarros. "The sign that I have says, 'You can put a silencer on a gun, but not on me.'"
The Students Demand Action walkouts happened at schools across the country. Eyewitness News video also captured students protesting at Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana.
"We're wearing orange in order to stand in solidarity with gun violence victims as just a representative color to show that we're all in unity, and when we're walking, and when we're marching, and we're going to federal buildings, we want to show the reasons why we're there," said student Sophie Kim.
