To keep pushing for gun reform, a group of students walked out of their classrooms to participate in a sit-in held in the school cafeteria on April 20.

The event date marked the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High school shooting that left 13 students dead.

The students met in the commons at 10:00 a.m. after getting out of their classes five minutes before. A few students wore orange and a couple others brought signs that advocated for gun control. Organizers then led the crowd to to the cafeteria, where the students gathered at tables and listened to speeches by those that had a message they wanted to share.  

Five people spoke at the sit-in. The main message of the speeches and the sit-in was to enact change through voting, and those that participated were strongly encouraged to register to vote as soon as possible.

Meghan Turley is a sophomore and one of the organizers of the sit-in.“The purpose was to send a political message to legislators and lawmakers that they can’t push the students away anymore,” Turley said. “The main message is to push for sensible gun reform.”

Altogether, there were over 60 students that gathered. Although this number is much smaller than the few hundred students that participated in the walkout on March 14, this number is higher than the organizers expected.

“I think that we had a really good turnout, and it was more than we expected. We knew obviously with the political message we had, it was going to be fewer,” Turley said.

Participants may have had differing views in what gun reform actually means, but most can agree that a change needs to occur. Sophomore Alexis Martinez and junior Fernando Gonzalez were both participants in the sit-in that want some kind of gun reform.   

“I don’t like people to be able to bring weapons to my school,” Martinez said.

“I think that guns need to be restricted, but to a certain extent. There shouldn’t be too many restrictions. I believe you should be able to own a gun at 18 if you can vote at 18,” Gonzalez said.  

Although there are no more walkouts or sit-ins planned for the near future, the organizers won’t allow the issue to die. “We are currently working on ways for students to stay engaged with the issue of gun reform.” Turley said.  

Some of the walkout organizers have plans to create a political message club for next year. Students are encouraged by the organizers to vote and call or write legislators if they still want to be involved in the issue.