No matter what political party you side with, what you think about gun laws, or even whether you agree with the form of protest, you’ve most likely heard about students around the country organizing walkouts to protest for stricter gun laws yesterday, March 14, in their schools. A walkout is when a group of people leave a workplace, school, or other organization in protest or disapproval of something. Around 130 6th and 7th graders protested here at Valley’s main campus.

Principal McKeag announced prior to the protest that, due to the safety of students, the administration would not allow students to leave the school in protest. Instead, the school would hold a moment of silence, wear school colors for unity, and discuss school safety and First Amendment rights. This announcement drew mixed reactions. Some students said that this is against district guidelines, which say that students can leave the building to protest with parent permission, and even constitutional rights (the First Amendment). Others didn’t care or didn’t understand the point of a walkout. Some students and teachers agreed with the school rules that students should stay in school for safety reasons.

On one side of the argument, students are defending their freedom to protest and express their opinions. One of these students, 7th grader Emily Melville, said that she was there to “protest that no 19-year-old should be able to own a semi-automatic rifle.” They said the school cannot stop them from a peaceful walkout.

While it is true that students are allowed to protest, many teachers and administrators argue that the rules they put in place are for the good of the student body. Instead, Mr. McKeag had the school hold a moment of silence and wear school colors. Administration didn’t want to allow chaos, fights, and other consequences of students being unsupervised.

Another one of the school’s “replacements” for a walkout that’s getting some backlash is wearing school colors. Administrators that went around to each first hour class and an email to parents from Mr. McKeag told the student body that wearing school colors would show “unity.” Some students involved argue that it would be better to wear orange to support gun violence prevention.

Many outcomes were possible at Valley for the day the walkout was planned nationwide (March 14). Some students planned to hold a protest despite Mr. McKeag’s announcement. Some thought everyone would follow the rules and everything would go as planned. Predictions of the measures administration might take to stop students from protesting ranged from some administrators stationed at the doors to a total lockdown.

Despite what people thought would happen, here’s what really went down: Though students were told not to participate in the walkout, supervision was provided outside the front door for those who chose to participate. Nobody was punished for protesting, and they were respected as long as they were not disruptive to students who stayed in classrooms. Meanwhile, a moment of silence was held inside.

Many people who participated in the walkout didn’t seem to understand the point of the protest or just wanted to miss 17 minutes of class. Chants of “No More Guns” broke out, and a lot of students admitted that they were just trying to get out of class for those 17 minutes, which does not really get the point of the movement. For those students that really cared about the walkout, like 7th grader Lydia Voss, who said she was there because “it’s not safe to be silent,” some students’ use of the protest was unfortunate. However, protesters are being encouraged to take action and email Mr. McKeag about why they chose to protest. According to the email he sent to parents, he has already received some emails that are “thoughtful, sincere, and assertive” and plans to send them to elected officials.

This whole surge in gun law protests began with a recent school shooting. School shootings have always caused uproar, of course, and there have always been people standing up for their beliefs around gun laws. But lately, there has been total outrage surrounding one school shooting: the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. 17 were killed. 1 was arrested – 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz.

When hearing about the shooting, many people wondered why in the world a 19-year-old had access to this type of weapon in the first place. When asked why he walked out, 7th grader Abraham Brueckner replied, “If everyday people can get guns, we have no idea what they could do with it.”