Douglas County students walk out for gun control

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When a threat was made against a Douglas County school last week, it rea rmed for Nirali Narayan, a junior at Highlands Ranch High School, her decision to walk out of class at noon April 5 to protest gun violence.

“It’s ridiculous that students have to be scared about going to school every morning and our families have to be scared about us returning,” Narayan said.

She joined around 75 students from Highlands Ranch High School — as well as at least 200 students from STEM, Chaparral High School, Mountain Vista High School and Sierra Middle School — who participated in the walkout, a nationwide event coordinated by Students Demand Action in the wake of the recent Nashville school shooting.

Asella Straus, a senior at Highlands Ranch High School and a member of Falcons for Progress, which organized the walkout at the school, said students were reeling from recent events and wanted to respond.

“What happened in Tennessee and East High, which is only like 30 minutes from us, really struck a lot of people at our school,” Straus said. “We’re hoping to get across that more lawmakers need to listen to the younger generation.” reats to schools have become treat a threat of a school shooter at our reality because at this point it is,” she said. is session, state legislators are debating bills that would increase the age to purchase ri es from 18 to 21 and to expand the Red Flag Law, which allows guns to be taken from someone who poses a risk to themselves or others.

Narayan, who is president of Falcons for Progress, agreed, saying students wanted to send a message to legislators that they support more gun control.

“For me this protest was about getting student voices out there to demand change because it’s so, so overdue,” she said.

Additionally, in March, the Douglas County School Board discussed asking voters to fund more school resource o cers in the district. Students at the walkout called for swift action, with signs saying “How many more?” and “Will we survive the next shooting?”

When the walkout ended, Straus said she wasn’t sure she felt heard by those in power, but she still felt the impact of speaking up.

“For the moment, it brought us as a community closer together and our school community closer together,” she said.