Students Demand Action Organizes More Than 250 School Walkouts on Gun Violence Prevention

Students Demand Action Volunteers and Gun Violence Survivors Are Available for Interviews; Photos Also Available

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Today, Students Demand Action groups, a grassroots arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, hosted more than 250 coordinated school walkouts across the country to demand state and federal lawmakers pass a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The walkouts came in response to the horrific school shooting at Annunciation Church School in Minneapolis last Wednesday. In the week and a half since two children were killed and 21 more people were wounded on their first week back to school, and despite pleas from victims' families, survivors, clergy, students and more, Minnesota state lawmakers have failed to take action. Minnesotans are urgently calling on their leaders to call a special session and pass a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

"We shouldn't have to stage national protests just to be heard, but that's exactly what we did -more than 250 times over-across the country today," said Timberlyn Mazeikis, a gun violence survivor from the school shooting at Michigan State University in 2023 and Students Demand Action volunteer from Minnesota. "Thoughts and prayers won't save us. Our generation deserves to grow up and live without the fear of bullets flying through our hallways. We're demanding state and federal lawmakers ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines now."

"At a moment when those in power are choosing politics over people, these young leaders are showing us what courage looks like," said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. "Students are walking out of their classrooms and into history, demanding the action that will save lives. Lawmakers should take note: these students will not be ignored, and they will not stop until assault weapons are banned and our schools are safe."

"Passionate young people have been at the heart of every successful social movement, and that's especially true for the gun safety movement," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. "Those lawmakers who still offer nothing but thoughts and prayers when it comes to gun violence should remember that with each passing year, another wave of America's mass shooting generation reaches voting age."

Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States. According to Everytown's research, there have already been five shootings at K-12 schools this fall semester. So far in 2025, there have been at least 91 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 31 deaths and 86 injuries nationally.

According to reports, the shooter at Annunciation School primarily used an AR-15-style assault weapon with multiple high-capacity magazines as well as a shotgun and pistol. Mass shootings where an assault weapon was used resulted in nearly six times as many people shot, more than twice as many people killed, and 23 times as many people wounded compared to those that did not involve one. These weapons of war have no place in our schools, neighborhoods or communities, and are designed to inflict maximum casualties in seconds.

Some states and Washington, D.C., have enacted legislation to prohibit assault weapons, as the majority of Americans support a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Colorado and Rhode Island both took action on assault weapons this year.