C.O. students again join in gun reform walkouts

For the second time in a just over a month, students in Central Oregon and across the nation came pouring out of classrooms Friday in a series of walkouts demanding action on gun reform.

“I heard something recently that really blew my mind — that someone knows my generation as the ‘school shooting generation.’ That’s hard to hear,” said Anya Rozek, a student at Redmond Proficiency Academy.

“I’m fighting for a place that I can be safe in, that my kids can be safe in,” said Ridgeview High student Sam Henry. “I’m fighting for humanity. I’m fighting for unity and diversity. It’s incredible what we can do and have the power to do. We just have to do it.”

Lawmakers can expect to hear from students like these soon; many spent the day writing letters to them.

“I wrote to Sen. Ron Wyden, and I just wanted him to know that a bunch of us felt unsafe when we received our own shooting threat, and I wanted him to be sure that we want change,” said Bend Senior High student Gabriela Hernandez Garcia.

Some students, like Garcia, sent requests; others had questions.

“Why nothing has happened. Why there haven’t been changes made. It seems like an obvious thing to do in this time,” said student Savanna Matott.

The national walkout coincided with the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings, and students in Redmond sent a message with 49 minutes of silence.

“We did 49 minutes for the 49 minutes kids had to be silent during the school shooting in Columbine,” Rozek said. “They had to be silent — no talking, nothing. No texting their families for 49 minutes, not knowing if they were going to make it out or not.”

From moments of silence to speeches and signs, demonstrators used all means of expression at the rally.

And it wasn’t just high school students. Mckenna Schirle joined others from Pacific Crest Middle School in Bend. She said people shouldn’t assume kids her age are too immature to understand the issue.

“I feel like it’s the opposite, because nowadays, especially with technology, we’re all so mature because we know what’s going on in the world, we’re a lot more involved,” she said. “To say that we’re immature is pushing us back.”