Hundreds of San Antonio area high school students plan to walk out of class for one hour at 10 AM today, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting in Colorado, to demand gun restrictions and to speak out against gun violence, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports
."Getting the attention of our Legislators and showing them how many kids care about it, through the attendance numbers," said Rachel Walsdorf, a senior at the Jay Science and Engineering Academy, and one of the organizers of the walkout.
Walkouts are planned at several public high schools including Brennan, Churchill, Holmes, and LEE, as well as private and charter schools like KIPP University Prep and Basis San Antonio Shavano.
In some cases, the schools say they will support the walkouts and make them into opportunities to talk about gun violence and effective political action.But other schools will county the students absent for the hour they are out.
Either way, Rachel says they are prepared to take a stand.
"A lot of the students who are walking out will be showing out representatives just how many students care about this issue, and why their needs to be change brought to it," she said.
Rachel says the marchers are not demanding gun bans, and are certainly not demanding that guns be taken away from eligible, law abiding citizens.
She says the marchers want common sense restrictions, including a ban on 'bump stocks' and large magazines, a requirement that all guy buyers first pass a background check, and age limits for purchasing firearms.