On Wednesday, May 10, Archie Williams students gathered on the sidewalk of Devonshire Hall to protest gun violence. Sophomore Siena Michelson organized and led the group of around 30 students in a peaceful protest.

“I knew that people would want to do this but had fear of leading or organizing because of the chance of getting made fun of or having to talk to a bunch of people, or didn’t have the time, or another reason, so I stepped up,” Siena said. “I wanted to inspire other people, not just in our school, but as well as the people driving in their cars down Sir Francis Drake. If just one person saw the protest or was in it and talked to somebody about it, then my job was done.” 

Sophomore Mark Snaith attended the protest and passionately expressed his reasoning for being there.

“I’m here today on behalf of gun violence and the trouble that it brings and the amount of death that it brings in the fact that the government does not present enough laws to restrict guns, and how people can just carry guns almost wherever they want. Or people that shouldn’t have guns, or own guns that are way too dangerous. And it can cause severe problems and can cause deaths of innocent civilians,” Mark said.

Siena  decided to hold the protest at school because of the increasing mass school shootings in the U.S. According to the Washington Post, there have been 380 school shootings since 1999.

“I think it was powerful for people to see kids outside a school protesting, holding up signs such as ‘We just want to live through high school’ and ‘A gun has more rights than I do of my own body’ because it makes people think. It connects the issue to their emotions,” Siena said.

While Siena finds guns to be an issue, she does not advocate for a total ban of all firearms.

“I think that a common misconception is that people who are protesting or trying to make change are all anti-gun completely, which isn’t true. I am sure there are people who are completely anti-gun, but that is not the majority,” Siena said.

While the issue of gun violence is far too great for students to fix, with more peaceful and well-meaning protests, the community may be able to make progress toward this issue.

“There needs to be more education. We can’t avoid the topic forever,” Siena said.