A small group of mostly high school students gathered in front of the White House on Friday as part of the National School Walkout, an anti-gun protest launched by a Connecticut teen following the shooting deaths of 17 people at a Florida high school in February.
Following a moment of silence plus 13 seconds to honor the 13 people shot and killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, the group walked to the Capitol where speakers lashed out at Republicans and the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The organizers from schools in the D.C., Virginia, and Maryland region collected letters demanding gun control from protesters addressed to legislators and registered voters via text.
But like the March for Our Lives protest last month and the first National School Walkout on March 14, the anti-gun walkout protest is being pushed and funded by Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, which spawned the Students Demand Action group that participated on Friday.
Looking to seize on activist outrage in the wake of the Florida school shooting, Everytown for Gun Safety — the group backed by former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg — is launching a “five-action plan” to energize supporters ahead of the midterms.
The five points of the plan are: Pledge to vote on gun safety; research how much money local officials have accepted from the National Rifle Association, register friends to vote; force candidates to go on the record about gun policy through a provided candidate questionnaire; and urge people who are involved to run for office themselves.
Ian Berlin, 17, a student at a D.C. high school who told Breitbart News he organized the local protest, spoke from a small stage
