Young Alexandria Kids Hold 'Lie-In' Against Gun Violence

One month after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students are walking out of classes Wednesday, March 14 to remember the victims and call for stronger gun laws. Perhaps one of the more sobering protests happened in Alexandria, where elementary school children held a "lie-in" on school grounds.

Alexandria students from T.C. Williams to Mount Vernon Community School held walkouts, but George Mason Elementary School took the spotlight for an event organized by 11-year-old students. Over 60 students gathered outside the school with handmade signs reading "Never Again" and "17 Is Too Many" as a crowd of parents looked on, The Guardian's Lois Beckett reported via Twitter. At one point, they lay in the grass holding up their signs in complete silence.

“Some parents have felt that we’re not old enough to know about it,” Carter, one of the 11-year-old organizers, told Beckett. “Like they think because we’re 5th graders we don’t know anything about what’s happening.”

The protests began at 10 a.m. and lasted 17 minutes in honor of the Parkland victims as part of the National School Walkout day. Students are demanding that Congress ban so-called assault weapons and high capacity magazines, require background checks for all gun sales, pass a firearms restraining order law, promote secure gun storage and fund research on gun violence.

Alexandria City Public Schools allowed students to participate in protests with designated spaces while continuing classes for students choosing not to walk out. "ACPS is committed to providing an inclusive, safe, caring and challenging learning environment for all students," ACPS said in a message to families ahead of the walk outs. Legally, schools can only discipline students for walking out of schools if students disrupt classroom instruction, according to the ACLU of Virginia.

The walkouts came one day after a school resource officer accidentally fired his gun at Alexandria's George Washington Middle School. No injuries were reported. The school resource officer, a five-year veteran of the force has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Image via Mayor Allison Silberberg