Student Protests Do More Than Arming Teachers

How much more will it take for systemic change to happen, and how can we harness the power of our voices to create that much-needed change?

Students, teachers and families fill the streets of New York City during a March For Our Lives protest. Photo from Rhododendrites on Wikimedia Commons

The sound of gunshots ringing through a school has become an unsettling new normal, leaving young people to grapple with the emotional and political fallout.

Sitting in the James A. Cannavino Library, trying my best to study, I couldn’t help but feel the pit in my stomach grow. Another notification buzzes on my phone next to me. Another shooting. Another awful tragedy. This time, it's at Apalachee High School in Georgia. Instead of school being a haven to learn and grow, it becomes a place where bullets fly. 

“You don’t have to have been physically injured in this to be a victim,” district attorney Brad Smith commented. “Everyone in this community is a victim. Every child in that school was a victim.”

The reality we face in the U.S. is one of constant fear and heightened anxiety for students and teachers alike. Mass shootings are no longer isolated incidents that shock the nation. They’ve become a persistent part of American life. There have already been over 385 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2024 alone. 

For any student, the specter of gun violence will always be a troubling concept throughout their schooling. When we were little, a lockdown or lock-in meant playing  “chopsticks” with the lights off in the classroom. For our teachers, it was 15 minutes of holding the nearest hardcover book, knowing they would be the first line of defense against a school shooter.

We’ve all realized that the fear on our teachers’ faces was not unnecessary. It’s the same fear we all feel now, when those horrifying headlines cross our phones of another school falling victim to an active shooter.

As the daughter of two educators, I have never, and will never, believe that teachers should have guns in the classroom. No gun should be in the same classroom cabinet as the colored pencils and Play-Doh. The solution to gun violence is not to add more guns, but to limit them. 

Each shooting leaves students like me feeling more helpless. The ritual of mourning young children, teens and teachers’ lives has become painfully routine. Communities flood social media and the news with prayers, and politicians send condolences without offering meaningful change. We attend vigils, post information on our Instagram accounts about the rising number of mass shootings and spread hashtags — yet the laws that allow these tragedies to happen largely go unchanged, and we’re told to arm our teachers.

This is where the frustration settles in. As a college student, I’ve watched tragedy after tragedy unfold, and the absence of meaningful action from those in power is deafening. We live in a country where mass shootings have become normalized, and the political response is disheartening.

Lawmakers, often backed by powerful gun lobbies like the National Rifle Association, continue to reject even the most common-sense gun reforms. Universal background checks, bans on assault weapons and red flag laws are policies that could prevent these tragedies, yet they remain politically contentious.

Why? Because the profits of gun manufacturers are prioritized over students’ lives and their mental health.

The mental impact these shootings have on students is incredibly detrimental. Stanford University School of Medicine professor Maya Rossin-Slater found that students in 10th and 11th grade who were exposed to a school shooting were 17.2% less likely to enroll in a four-year college.

Students are not just grieving — we’re angered and empowered. The activism that has emerged from young people is a direct response to the failure of voting-age people and those in government. Movements like March For Our Lives and the activism sparked by survivors of the Parkland shooting have shown the strength of youth-led initiatives. Students are organizing rallies, meeting with lawmakers and speaking out on social media platforms, demanding change in a system that consistently fails us. 

It isn’t about shouting for change; it’s about doing the groundwork. Secondary education and college students are organizing town halls, participating in national walkouts and pushing voter registration initiatives with a focus on electing officials who are more likely to take action. This past summer, Crown Heights Middle School in Brooklyn, New York performed a walkout in protest of gun violence, partnering with a community organization, Save Our Streets Brooklyn. 

Crown Heights science teacher Janeé Wright posed the ‘essential question’: “Is gun violence considered a health crisis in the U.S.?”

This reflection ties into a broader conversation — how much more will it take for systemic change to happen, and how can we harness the power of our voices to create that much-needed change?