LMSD Students Walk Out To Protest Gun Violence

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA – Lower Merion School District high school and middle school students joined countless of other students across the nation Wednesday to send a message that gun violence must end.

The national walkout movement – which has been the source of controversy to some who say students don't fully understand the issue or just want to get out of class – was held Wednesday March 14 as it marks the one-month anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that left 17 people dead.

Students walked out of their buildings for 17 minutes at 10 a.m., each minute representing a life lost in the tragic incident.

While some school districts barred students from walking out and threatened discipline, the Lower Merion School District said it will not punish the students participating in the movement and supported their active student body.

At Lower Merion High School, where about 500 students participated in the walk out, students gave speeches on gun control, their experiences with gun violence, and honored those lost to gun violence following the walkout.

Students at Harriton High School, Welsh Valley Middle School, and Bala Cynwyd Middle School also joined the walkout movement.

"This is an issue that impacts all of us," organizers of the LMHS walkout said. "We are not safe at school, we are not safe in our cities and towns and congress must take meaningful action to keep citizens safe. Mass shootings occur so frequently that many have become desensitized - we have to start taking these losses personally and realize our community could be next. It is paramount to the lives of teachers, students, administrators, and other faculty lost in these devastating school shootings that something be done. We must take action now."

(Alex Wong/Getty Images)