I know this is a different post that isn’t music related, but today I witnessed something that I have to talk about. My high school did a walk out for gun control. The walk out was student organized. All of this is my opinion, and what I saw at today’s walk out. So here we go.
Today my school along with many others, participated in a walk out for gun control. We walked out during third period to our football stadium. I brought a speaker to play music and the songs I played were about important topics. Such as Logic, who’s talked about guns and equality. My friend kept telling me to turn it down because it’s embarrassing. Why should I have to turn it down? No one else said anything to me, music lets artists have a platform to express on topics that are about a serious matter. I wasn’t playing anything that would offend someone. The bleachers were filled. Although it’s sad to say that a good amount of those students went to the walk out because they wanted to miss class. Also kids used the walk out as an excuse just to leave school without returning. Don’t do walk out if you don’t support it. The part where I was standing in the bleachers, the kids were being really disrespectful. They were making jokes, saying that they don’t support it that they just wanted to miss class, yelling while the speakers were talking and the part I found most disrespectful was that a kid rolled a blunt. Fine if you want to walk out to miss class but don’t be rude towards the topic. Those kids were also saying how they want guns. Well, no one wants to take that away, we just want there to be stricter gun control laws. I know this was kind of negative but I just dislike how rude those students were acting and I wanted to point it out.
So with that said, the amount of students who participated was great. The speakers who spoke were really moving and touching. I like how the school I attend let us do this. Not only students were involved in the walk out, parents were also there to support us. One of the speaker, Sofia Garcia, said something along the lines of her niece called her saying she wants to be home schooled because she’s afraid of school shootings. No one should ever not feel safe especially in a school. Not only do the gun laws should be stricter but schools need to take precaution. Yes we have drills for what to do if there is a shooter in the building. The idea of arming teachers isn’t the right precaution to take. A lot of us aren’t old enough to vote so the fact that we can have a walk out for our voices to be heard is amazing. There were papers that were handed out with representatives numbers for us to call and tell our views on gun control. Despite the kids who were disrespectful, I’m glad to say that the walk out for gun control went really well.
Here are a few of my thoughts on gun control overall. You have to be 18 years old to purchase a gun in Illinois, that’s ridiculous. I find it weird how you have to be 18 to buy a gun but 21 to drink that makes no sense. There has been 18 school shooting thus far in 2018. I’m fine with carrying a concealed weapon but when people can get their hands on rifles and machine guns that’s that part where I’m not okay with. If people who own shot guns or rifles and don’t hunt then why do they own them? You can easily protect yourself with a hand gun. I really do hope that with the walk out many schools participated in, we can have our voices be heard and have gun control laws be stricter. I have a place where I can express my thoughts and opinions. I want to use this platform for something good so thank you for reading this. Here are a few pictures I took at the walk out.