Middle school students march for gun reform
SHOREWOOD/MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – Students again walked out of their classrooms Wednesday, calling for reform of America’s gun laws.
The demonstration was in Shorewood and included a visit with a local member of Congress.
Students spent their morning marching for miles, calling for tougher gun laws. Chanting and marching four miles from Shorewood Intermediate to Congresswoman Gwen Moore’s office in the Third Ward.
Thirty-five middle schoolers say they don’t want to be the next victims of gun violence.
“A lot of the walkouts have been focused on high schoolers but we want to show that middle schoolers want to have their voices heard as well,” said student Jamie Puppe.
“There’s no point in having assault rifles that can shoot 40 people with the pull of a trigger,” said another student, Ellie Sweet.
Students marched past Senator Ron Johnson’s office demanding the ban of assault rifles and bump stocks. They also want a four-day waiting period for every gun purchase and universal background checks.
“It shouldn’t be something that we expect to see every night on the news. It should be something that we see once and demand that it changes,” said Jamie.
At Moore’s office, students crowded her conference room to have a lengthy discussion about gun reform.
“She talked about bills and stuff she’s done in the past and ways we could help and stuff. It was really inspiring to talk with someone who has so much more power than us,” said Oskar Backhorst.
“Who knew that the constituents would be the non-voting, non-donating class of young people who are willing to fight and keep this issue alive every day? I am so grateful,” said Rep. Gwen Moore (D – 4th District.)
Students say they’ll continue to fight for change.
“This might be like the third march or the third walkout, but we’re going to have a fourth and a fifth, and a tenth if nothing changes,” said Jamie.
Shorewood Intermediate gave students permission to participate and wouldn’t comment further.