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'In what world do guns have more rights than I do?': Students walk out in support of gun reform

Lucas Finton Micaela A Watts
Memphis Commercial Appeal

Nearly a thousand students from White Station and Crosstown high schools walked out of class at noon Wednesday to protest for stricter gun legislation, a week after six people were killed in a school shooting in Nashville.

Behind White Station High School, hundreds of students, some sporting signs calling for stricter gun laws, called on legislators to put their lives ahead of gun access Wednesday afternoon.

"In what world do guns have more rights than I do," a student shouted from the top of the steps. The crowd of students cheered and clapped in response.

White Station's walkout saw mostly student speakers, and a student's rendition of "Glory" by John Legend, but also featured one of the school's teachers.

The nearly one-hour walkout was organized by Presley Spiller, a senior at the high school, and a friend of hers at Crosstown High.

"[Gun violence] is always on everybody's subconscious," Spiller said after the protest. "It causes anxiety, depression...and it affects you in your daily life. Kids are scared, because the more it happens, the more you believe it can happen to you."

Students chant and hold up signs during a “Walkout to End Gun Violence” event outside White Station High School hosted by Students Demand Action in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. The walkout comes a week after the school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville that left six dead, including three students.

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Although Spiller can vote, and the walkout speakers urged those eligible to register to vote, many of her peers cannot, and she said that makes walkouts all the more important since they elevate voices.

Presley Spiller, an 18-year-old White Station High School senior and an organizer of the event, speaks to assembled students outside of the school during a “Walkout to End Gun Violence” event hosted by Students Demand Action in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. The walkout comes a week after the school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville that left six dead, including three students.

"There's a feeling of helplessness," Spiller said. "Especially my school, which has 1,800 kids, and we're always seen as numbers, not really individuals. So we feel silenced a lot. Things like this help us have a voice."

The lone faculty speaker was Curt Rakestraw, an advanced placement U.S. government and politics teacher. He said the walkout showed students the importance of sacrifices in a movement, although he said the smallest sacrifice anyone made was missing their lunch period.

"Presley did all the things a perfect student would do: She talked to the principal, she made arragements with the principal, so that not one person that came out here today would get in trouble," Rakestraw said. "I had students ask me today, 'Am I going to be marked absent for going?' My question for them is, 'Does that matter?' If [students] are willing to take these steps...and sacrifice something to go out and get that change, we love that."

Crosstown also walks out

The majority of Crosstown High School's 480 walked out of the building and onto the building's plaza for a 45-minute rally. 

The student-led protest featured several speakers who detailed how their high school experience has been altered by a backdrop of gun violence. 

"We deserve to live and to learn without fear," said student organizer Sofia Gutierrez, a Crosstown senior.

Like White Station student organizers, Gutierrez worked with her school's chapter of Students Demand Action for Gun Sense. 

Crosstown High School students walk out of their classes to the outside plaza to protest lax gun laws in Tennessee and across the U.S. on April 5, 2023 in Memphis.

Both rallies occurred less than a week after the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, where three 9 year olds and three adults were killed after a shooter entered a school heavily armed and opened fire. 

Ana Calvo, another senior, reviewed legislation passed in recent years that law enforcement heads across the state warned would lead to higher levels of gun violence in communities — permitless carry, passed in 2021, and the 2013 bill that made it legal to leave firearms inside of vehicles. 

All students are advocating for, Calvo said, "is common sense."

Students also discussed the importance of registering to vote as soon as they're able and advocating for friends and family to also participate in elections. 

Micaela Watts is a reporter covering issues tied to access and equity for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.

Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.