By Bethany BROWN

Thousands of students staged walkouts at schools and college campuses across the country last Thursday to demand stricter gun control following the recent massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 students and two teachers dead. Starting at noon over 150 Crescenta Valley High School students left class and headed outside to protest. They were accompanied by supportive teachers and parents.

The hourlong protest was part of a nationwide call for school walkouts organized by Students Demand Action, a group affiliated with the pro-gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety. Students Demand Action are young activists who have grown up amid America’s gun violence crisis and have even been referred to as “the school shooting generation.” They intend on fighting tirelessly to demand federal action to end gun violence.

CVHS students – many wearing orange, the color of the gun violence prevention movement – phoned their senators and House representative to advocate legislation that ensures thorough background checks on all gun sales. They also heard from speakers who emphasized the toll of gun violence on U.S. students and shared stories of the Texas victims.

Roan Thibault, a volunteer leader with Students Demand Action and lead organizer of the CVHS walkout, said he is determined to make his 2022 graduating class the last of the school mass shooting generation. He recalled being in second grade when the Sandy Hook shooting happened and eighth grade when the Parkland shooting happened.

“And now, just two weeks before I’m about to graduate [from] high school, hearing about the shooting in Uvalde … it just feels like déjà vu,” Thibault said. “It is long past time that we take immediate action on this issue. We need common-sense gun laws.”

The tragedy in Uvalde marks the 27^th school shooting this year alone and reflects a much deeper epidemic of gun violence in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun violence became the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens in 2020. Education Week has been tracking school shootings since 2018 and, according to its database, 119 such incidents have taken place since then.

The organization tracks shootings in which a firearm was discharged and where any person other than the suspect had a bullet wound resulting from the incident. The publication also includes only incidents that happen on a K-12 school property or on a school bus and that occur when school is in session or during a school-sponsored event. It doesn’t track cases in which the only shots fired were from a school resource officer (SRO) or police officer.

The U.S. collectively has observed a continuous, significant rise in mass shootings over the last several years. According to the Gun Violence Archive, an independent data collection organization, there have been a total of 212 mass shootings in 2022 alone. It defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people were shot or killed, excluding the shooter.

The U.S. ended 2021 with 693 mass shootings. The year before saw 611. And 2019 had 417 shootings.

“We cannot become numb to this – we cannot accept a reality that allows so many Americans to keep dying from a deeply preventable problem,” Thibault urged. “I’m trying to remain optimistic that this time might be different regarding gun safety.”

He said he has seen Republicans and Democrats seemingly coming together within the Senate to negotiate this issue “for the first time since Parkland,” which he signifies as moving in the right direction. He noted that there hasn’t been a sustained national movement for gun safety since then, but now there is sustained protest across the nation that continues to grow.

“Hopefully our lawmakers can get something done on this issue finally, whether that be a background check on every gun sale or assigning a new director to the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives),” he said.

As Thibault nears graduation, he said he feels confident and fortunate that the on-campus club has so many determined and passionate students who he knows will continue to keep up the fight locally at CVHS. He intends to continue to advocate for stronger gun violence prevention laws throughout his college journey and urges those in the community to do the same.

GUSD Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution in December 2019 to protect children from preventable gun violence by implementing comprehensive school safety plans that address violence prevention, emergency preparedness, traffic safety and crisis intervention. The focus was on providing materials to parents and guardians regarding their legal duty to safely store any owned firearms in their homes.

This June, the Board of Education will vote to adopt a second resolution proclaiming June 3 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day to be recognized within the district. Thibault and other students hope that those in the community will wear orange clothing to show their support for the cause.

Orange has become the defining color of the gun violence prevention movement and honors the more than 110 lives cut short and the hundreds more wounded by gun violence every day. On Jan. 21, 2013, Hadiya Pendleton marched in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. One week later, Hadiya was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. Soon after this tragedy, Hadiya’s childhood friends decided to commemorate her life by wearing orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others.

Wear Orange began shortly after on June 2, 2015 – what would have been Hadiya’s 18^th birthday. Since then, Wear Orange has expanded to a period of three days each year: National Gun Violence Awareness Day (the first Friday in June) and Wear Orange Weekend (the accompanying weekend). This year, Wear Orange will take place from June 3-5, 2022.

For more information, visit www.wearorange.org.

GUSD Superintendent Dr. Vivian Ekchian extended her sympathies to the students, families and staff at Robb Elementary and offered resources – such as guidance from psychologists on how to speak with children about violence – to parents within the local district who may be feeling overwhelmed with the present reality and are uncertain regarding their own children’s safety on GUSD campuses.

“As these tragic shootings seem to be taking place with alarming frequency, it is important for us to work together as a community to ensure our schools are safe,” Ekchian said. “I want to assure parents and families that we are doing everything in our power to protect your children and our employees on our campuses.”

Additionally, GUSD offers direct support, services and resources for students, employees and families through their wellness services department. The district also has a “If You See Something, Say Something” rule in place where any suspicious activity observed is encouraged to be reported to the school immediately either via phone or through the Glendale Unified mobile app, which is monitored seven days a week and allows for the option to submit the tip anonymously.

Ekchian emphasized that along with security gates and cameras on each campus, there are district-wide emergency plans in place for a range of situations from natural disasters to bomb threats to active shooter situations, and that emergency drills are held multiple times throughout the year to familiarize staff and students with proper procedures.

“[We] constantly review and revise our emergency plans with assistance from law enforcement,” she said. “Our Facilities and Support Operations staff conducts safety walk-throughs of every Glendale Unified campus to identify any areas for improvement … We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure our campuses are safe spaces where every child can learn and thrive.”