MINNEAPOLIS - Local students joined a national effort Wednesday to call for stricter gun laws in the wake of the Florida school shooting that killed 17.
Around 11:30 a.m., students from several Minneapolis high schools left their classrooms and marched to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in south Minneapolis, before heading to City Hall in downtown Minneapolis.
According to a Facebook post, the march was organized to "voice our concerns about gun violence in schools."
Students from Southwest High School could be heard chanting, "What do we want? Gun control. When do we want it? Now," as they made their way down 50th.
High school students from Washburn, Roosevelt and more joined the march at the park, and the group of around 300 students marched together to City Hall.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was spotted in the crowd of students and made a speech outside City Hall, praising the students for their efforts.
"We have your back," Frey shouted over the crowd outside City Hall. "This is a nationwide movement and it's young people who are leading the way."
The students gathered inside the city council chambers around 2:30 p.m., where several students addressed the council about their fears of being "next" and the need to make changes to current gun laws.
"This is not about who's a republican or a democrat," one student said. "This is about children dying. This is about children who got up that day, decided they wanted to go to school to get an education and they ended up dying for it."
Following students' statements to the city council, the members voted to approve an amendment to the legislative agenda and policy position document to support legislation that bans the sale statewide of assault weapons, bump stocks, silencers and extended magazines.
The Minneapolis School District released the following statement:
Last week’s school shooting in Florida made an impact on people throughout our country. While we have policies in place to keep our students as safe as possible, many people are wondering what else can be done. Across the nation, students have been especially active in speaking out on this issue, and they have organized a number of activities in response to the shooting.
What’s become clear is these tragedies occur too often, and something has to change. There are no easy answers, but it’s time for our country to have a real conversation about how to move forward to protect our students and teachers. It’s been profound to see that conversation being led by students.
We encourage our families to have conversations with their students about their expectations and participation in non-school sponsored activities, including walkouts. MPS respects students’ First Amendment right to peacefully assemble, and we will not discipline students for the act of protesting as long as the protest remains peaceful. However, the best way for us to ensure student safety during the school day is to know where our students are—that’s simply not possible once they leave school grounds. At this time, our normal policies regarding student attendance and walkouts still apply.
The Superintendent’s senior leadership team will be meeting this week to discuss further considerations for national walkouts planned in March and April. We will share more information as these conversations continue.