GA School Walkouts Planned To Protest Gun Violence

Some Georgia students planned walkouts from schools Friday in protest of gun violence in the aftermath of a recent mass shooting during Mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minnesota.

The walkouts were planned for noon, according to the organizers, Students Demand Action. They were arranged in response to the Aug. 27 mass shooting that killed two children and injured 17 others in Minneapolis.

Police said the shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, took his own life at the back of the church after firing dozens of rounds into the pews. The children killed in the attack were 8 and 10 years old.

"No students should have to hide in their church pews or their classrooms, wondering if their classmates, friends and teachers will walk out alive. We should not have to be afraid of gun violence in our schools, places of worship or whether a bullet will shatter our futures and fracture our communities," organizers wrote on their website.

"We’re sick and tired of inaction from our elected officials to protect our lives and our ability to actually feel safe in our classrooms and communities. Firearms are already the leading cause of death for children, teens (ages 1 to 19) and college-aged people in the United States — when will ENOUGH be ENOUGH for our legislators?"

Students Demand Action is calling for the ban of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, the group said.

WAGA-TV reported walkouts were scheduled at Wheeler High School in Smyrna, Charles Drew High School in Riverdale, New Manchester High School in Douglasville, an unspecified school in Dacula, an unspecified school in Macon and Savannah Arts Academy and Savannah Early College.

"We’re supposed to be in school to learn and hang out with our friends, not practicing lockdowns or hiding under desks. Every time a shooting happens, it’s a reminder that our schools aren’t safe," organizers said.

"Even when it’s not happening at our school, we live with the fear that it could. Lockdowns, hoaxes and false alarms all make it harder to focus, harder to feel safe and it’s affecting our mental health. There is no justification for how school shootings have continued in America when we have the solutions to prevent these tragedies from happening."

The walkouts come a year after a 14-year-old student was accused of opening fire on Sept. 4, 2024 at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, killing two teachers and two students. Eight students and a teacher were injured in the shooting.

The accused gunman, Colt Gray, and his father, Colin Gray, are both facing murder charges in connection with the deadly shooting.

Colin Gray had given his son the assault-style weapon as a Christmas gift and was aware that the child's mental health had deteriorated in the weeks before the shooting, investigators testified at an earlier hearing. The father also was aware that his son was obsessed with school shooters and even had a shrine above his home computer for the gunman in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school massacre, Florida, prosecutors say.

"Every year, nearly 22,000 children and teens are shot and killed or wounded and approximately 3 million are exposed to gun violence," according to Every Town for Our Safety.

The Gun Violence Archive on Friday showed there were 503 mass shootings last year in the U.S.

This year, mass shootings took place on Aug. 6 when an Army sergeant was accused of shooting and injuring five soldiers at Georgia's Fort Stewart and two days later when nearly 300 rounds were fired at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing an officer.

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