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Students across nation are planning walkouts and speaking out about school shootings
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., attended a demonstration in nearby Ft. Lauderdale. ( Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Students across nation are planning walkouts and speaking out about school shootings

High school students and teachers across the nation are planning walkouts this spring to push Congress to address solutions for school shootings, Newsweek reported.

Students tweeted about the proposed walkouts with the hashtags #NationalSchoolWalkout, #April20 and #April20Walk on Twitter. It’s part of a mass boycott timed for the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999, the report stated.

A petition from the Twitter account "National School Walkout,” has gained thousands of signatures. Students said they hope it will get the attention of Congress, Newsweek reported.

"Nothing has changed since Columbine," reads the petition on change.org. "Let us start a movement that lets the government know the time for change is now."

Are other demonstrations planned?

A separate walkout demonstration is planned for the " National School Walkout” for 17 minutes at 10 a.m. on March 14. The walkout is lasting 17 minutes to recognize the 17 victims of the deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to the Twitter account "Women's March Youth."

"Enough is enough!" the post reads. "Women's March Youth EMPOWER is calling for students, teachers, and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout.

The Women’s March Facebook page invites parents, teachers and administrators to join the protest. The Facebook page indicates that thousands plan to attend.

"Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day," the group wrote.

Since the shooting, students have been among the most vocal groups.

What have students said?

Classmates of those killed during Wednesday’s shooting offered strong words for anyone opposed to new gun laws.

One of the students responded to a tweet from President Donald Trump that offered "thoughts and prayers" for the victims. The student tweeted: "Why was a student able to terrorize my school, Mr. President?"

Emma Gonzalez, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas student, called out Trump during a passionate speech she made at a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale, Mediaite reported.

“If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association,” Gonzalez said.

She declared that students are going to help change existing laws.

“We are prepared to call B.S.,” she said. “Politicians, politicians who sit in their gilded houses and Senate...funded by the NRA, telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call B.S.”

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