Assumption students march on Washington

Video by Father Patrick Delahanty

By Marnie McAllister, Record Editor

Assumption High School students who traveled to Washington, D.C., for the student-led March for Our Lives March 24 are incredulous that children must take the lead on gun control.

“Gun violence is unnecessary and can be prevented,” said Sydney Meyer, a senior at Assumption. “The fact that we haven’t acted on it is ridiculous.”

Not only that, she pointed out, gun control laws demanded by the growing movement of students are nothing new.

“This isn’t a radical thing we’re asking for. We’ve done it before,” she said, referring to the federal assault weapons ban that was in effect from 1994 to 2004, when the ban expired.

Meyer and 30 of her schoolmates spent 32 hours last weekend traveling, marching and rallying for gun control with hundreds of thousands of others who inundated  Pennsylvania Avenue. They were led by survivors of the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Fla. A  teenage gunman used an assault weapon to kill 17 people there.

The March for Our Lives called for stricter gun control, including a ban on assault weapons and universal background checks. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious have also called for these measures.

An estimated 800 similar marches were held in cities around the world, including in Louisville, where more than a thousand young people and their adult supporters marched and rallied downtown. Louisville Metro Police officers estimated the crowd at 1,200 to 1,300. Others put the estimate closer to 2,000.

Pam Raidt, a member of St. Francis of Assisi Church and a teacher, withstood a frigid rain to attend the Louisville March for Our Lives March 24. (Record Photo by Marnie McAllister)

Participants in the local event, including students from local Catholic schools and parishes and women religious,  marched in a blustery wind that whipped frigid rain against protest signs, rain coats and umbrellas.

In Washington, the Assumption students started the day at 7 a.m. shivering under layers of coats, but a sunny day and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds warmed them up by afternoon. They returned with sunburned cheeks and a burning new passion for their cause.

During an interview with eight of the Assumption students after they returned, the teenagers expressed their incredulity, fears and motivations.

They were quick to call their efforts a movement. In fact, Meyer said, one of the event speakers called the march an “opening ceremony.”

“We’re not stopping at all,” she said. “We’re bringing new arguments to the table and we’re not influenced by lobbyists.”

The students hope to hold a voter registration drive at Assumption next month. Electing candidates willing to reform gun laws is essential, said the students. A majority — 24 of the 31 who marched in Washington — will be eligible to vote in November’s elections.

Senior Natalie Claypool said she was moved to action after the January shooting in Benton, Ky., that left two dead and 18 injured at Marshall County High School. A 15-year-old student has confessed to the shooting.

Claypool’s cousin, also 15 years old, attends that school and lost her friends in the shooting.

“It’s kids dying,” Claypool said. “I feel like there’s no way you can justify it. There is literally no genuine argument against common sense gun laws.”

Correna Tate, a senior, said that even though she attends a Catholic school that seems safe, she sits in class and feels scared.

“I find myself walking down the hallways thinking, ‘Where would I go? Do I duck into the bathroom or a classroom?’ ” she said. “It’s ridiculous.”

All of the students nodded in agreement. These thoughts produce anxiety, said senior Alyssa Coulter.

She noted that a fire drill held at Assumption soon after the Parkland shootings was preceded by a school-wide announcement, assuring students and teachers that the forthcoming alarm was a scheduled drill and not a ploy by a shooter to draw them out of their classrooms.

Hali McCain, a junior, said her sister, a seventh-grader, came home frightened after an “intruder drill” was held at her school a day after the Parkland shootings.

“They had the students hiding in corners and some of the students had panic attacks,” she said.

Coulter said she hopes their efforts will help prevent future shootings and establish reasonable gun control laws.

“We don’t want kids to have to go through what we’re going through,” she said.

The students added that they have felt supported both by the Sisters of Mercy, who sponsor Assumption, and by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Assumption, they said, has prepared them for the struggle.

“Assumption has taught me to speak my mind,” added McCain. “We’re not letting it die.”

Ursuline Sisters Janet Marie Peterworth (left) and Sue Scharfenberger were among more than a thousand people who participated in the March for Our Lives in downtown Louisville March 24. The student-led event called for “common sense” gun control laws, such as universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons. (Record Photo by Marnie McAllister)
Marnie McAllister
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Marnie McAllister
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One reply on “Assumption students march on Washington”
  1. Good on you, AHSers! The “opening ceremony,” in one sense, is the easy part. Keep up the momentum of the movement: register every vote you can. Keep discussing issues. Vote! Don’t let people forget what has begun.

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