Students walk out of classes... to support the 2nd amendment.

Students walk out in support of gun rights. USA Today

Students across the United States walked out in support of gun rights today. USA Today. The rallies, called "stand for the second" were organized by a Carlsbad senior student Will Reilly who wanted to demonstrate that not everyone supported new gun control laws. The walkouts occurred in 40 states and took place for 16 minutes. Students expressed their support for gun rights and many of them said that the people asking for gun control weren't speaking for them. 

My Comment:

An under reported story and a fairly big accomplishment if you think about it. Unlike the pro gun control walk outs this was a grassroots movement not connected to the major fundraisers and power structures that the Democrats used to push gun control. These were just normal kids organizing on their own to defend a constitutional amendment. 

Other news outlets are saying that the numbers were down compared to the gun control walkouts. This doesn't surprise me because this did not have the funds and media attention that those walkouts had. The plans for those walkouts got international media attention while the pro gun rights march didn't get much of anything. Indeed, I hadn't heard anything about this until this morning when I saw an article on USA Today saying that it was planned. 

Numbers were also likely down because these walkouts were in support of the 2nd amendment, which is not popular among teachers and school administrators. Though I haven't heard of anyone getting punished for these walkouts, they were likely not encouraged in more liberal areas. Perhaps in more conservative areas they were, but that would be the exception not the rule. Compare that to the gun control walkouts where some teachers were participating in the walkouts and you can see why turnout was down. 

I am guessing if this walkout had gotten the media attention that the gun control ones had or if the GOP had supported it like the Democrats did, they would have surpassed the gun control walkouts. Gun control is extremely unpopular among younger people. Millennials have been fairly strong supporters of the 2nd amendment with Generation Z being even more supportive of the 2nd amendment. Even the Washington Post admits that the average age for the "March for our Lives" protests was 49. Gun control just doesn't resonate for a generation raised on first person shooter video games and has a libertarian streak in general. 

Of course, like any walkout, there were surely kids that there just there because they wanted to get out of class. As these walkouts become more popular expect to see more students who don't even know what the walkout is for. Due to that fact and the fact that these walkouts disrupt education, I am not a fan of them no matter what the cause is. 

I do have to say though that given the situation I don't know what else these kids could do. The media has made it seem that gun control is popular and that young people support it. Neither of those things are true and we needed to demonstrate that somehow. A walkout is the only thing that they really could have done. 

As for the gun control push itself, it seems to have stalled out. It's been awhile since I have heard anything about the Parkland students not named Kyle Kushov, the pro gun student with the highest profile. Though a few state laws were passed, most disturbingly in Vermont and Florida, who were previously pro-gun rights, the national push seems to be over. 

Of course that doesn't mean we can give up when it comes to supporting gun rights. If this particular event shows us anything it's that gun rights supporters need to get better at organizing and supporting things like this. Like I said, I hadn't heard about this until this morning, when it was essentially too late to help spread the word. That kind of thing can't happen when we are up against a political machine that owns the media and has an army of activists that will show up to protest anything.