Today, February 21st 2018, students at Westlake High School walked out at noon in protest of gun violence, especially now that school shootings have been on the rise. We stood outside in the rain for 17 minutes, honoring the victims of such horrendous events.

Just this year, there have been numerous fatal school shootings with the most recent being in Parkland, Florida where a gunman shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Children all over the country are enraged that unfortunate events like this one keep happening without intervention from the government to reform gun laws.

A student killed 32 students and faculty members at Virginia Tech, and wounded another 17 students and faculty members in 2007 using a semi-automatic pistol (ABC). In 2012, 26 children and school staff members were murdered when they were shot by an AR-15 rifle at Sandy Hook Elementary (CNN). Nearly one month ago on January 23, 2018, a 15-year-old in Benton, Kentucky killed two fellow students, both also 15, at Marshall County High School with a pistol and wounds 14 others (CBS). Exactly one week ago, 17 people passed away at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida when they were shot at by Nikolas Jacob Cruz, 19, who also used an AR-15-style rifle (USA Today).

These are only a few examples of the deadly school shootings that have occurred in the United States. It is ridiculous that this keeps happening. Most of the victims of  school shootings are innocent children who do not deserve to have their lives taken away like this. We should not live in fear of being killed in a place where we are meant to be getting our education. This is not normal and it will never be accepted as normal. Something needs to change so that we, as students and citizens, can be safe. 

To all the victims, we hope you rest in peace. We will not let you die in vain.