Bill De Blasio To Talk Gun Violence With NYC Students

NEW YORK, NY — Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning a town hall event for New York City students to discuss gun violence and mobilize against it, he announced Monday. Plans for the talk between the mayor and high schoolers will come as students across the nation prepare to protest federal lawmakers' inaction on the issue.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida have led a nationwide push for tougher gun-control legislation since Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 people at their school two weeks ago.

De Blasio said he wants to give the city's students a way to jump into the ongoing national conversation.City Hall hasn't set a date, time or location for the discussion, but it will likely happen within the next few weeks and will be open to all students, the mayor's press aides said.

"I think for the first time in decades there’s a chance of real change on gun safety issues. And let’s face it, our young people are leading the way," de Blasio said Monday on NY1's "Inside City Hall."

De Blasio, a Democrat, has chastised the National Rifle Association and Republican lawmakers for stonewalling gun reform. He's also said the city will ramp up school security by requiring every school to conduct a lockdown drill by March 15 and conducting random metal-detector screenings at middle and high schools.

High school students across the nation are planning to walk out of class on March 14 and April 20 to protest Congress' failure to pass stricter gun laws. The latter date is the anniversary of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.

De Blasio has said students could face some discipline for participating in the planned 17-minute walkouts. School administrators may try to keep younger students inside while still letting them participate, he said Monday.

But mayor repeated his support for students' efforts to remember the Parkland shooting victims and call for action against gun violence. He said he hasn't seen students so dedicated to activism since the 1960s and '70s.

"Young people taking responsibility for their society is a very powerful, important thing," he said. "We haven’t seen enough of that. I want to support it and encourage it."

(Lead image: Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at a luncheon in Albany on Feb. 17. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography