Politics takes center stage at Cd'A High School
JUDD WILSON/Press Coeur d’Alene High School students picked up voter registration forms and legislative contact information at a student-led event Wednesday.
Students at Coeur d’Alene High School skipped part of school Wednesday to rally for gun control and political solutions to school violence. (JUDD WILSON/Press)
Rain forced protesters at Coeur d’Alene High School inside the school gym Wednesday, where student leaders advocated political activism in response to the Feb. 14 Parkland, Fla. murders. (JUDD WILSON/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — A month after the murders of 17 students at Parkland, Fla., several hundred of Coeur d’Alene High School’s 1,400 students walked out of class Wednesday to rally for gun control.
Organized by seniors Ashley Romanowski and Annika Silk, the event rallied Coeur d’Alene High School students to register to vote in time for the Congressional midterm elections this November, and to contact federal legislators demanding political reforms.
Coeur d’Alene High School senior Amelie Wood said she walked out of class because she wants to ban some firearms and restrict the sale of others.
“I want Congress to require universal background checks before gun sales, ban assault weapons, and overall make more gun control laws,” she said.
According to the Giffords Law Center, federal law already requires background checks through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System for all guns purchased through federally licensed firearms dealers in Idaho, except for concealed carry permit holders. Idaho law prohibits private sales of firearms to known gang members and to purchasers younger than 18 without parental permission.
In addition to universal background checks, the student leaders voiced support for increased access to mental health resources and anti-bullying programs. There isn’t one solution to the gun violence problem, said Romanowski, but “something’s better than nothing.”
Silk said she personally supported a ban on AR-15s and other semi-automatic rifles.
“It’s not necessary for the average person to have them,” she said. Silk conceded that the Second Amendment “complicated” such restrictions, however. In addition to a ban on semi-automatic rifles, she voiced support for proposed federal legislation to ban bump stocks, arguing that “they’re only used for killing.” Bump stocks received approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms in 2010 to assist disabled persons. Bump stocks were allegedly used in the murders of 58 people in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.
Along with voter registration forms, Silk and Romanowski handed out business cards to download an app for 5 Calls.org, a 501(c)4 political activism organization which leads people to contact their legislators on behalf of firearms bans, White House action against Russia, opposition to President Donald Trump’s nominations to federal courts, and other Democratic policy positions.
“It tells you what to say and how to vote on it,” Silk said.
Students were also offered a form letter they could send to their federal representatives demanding enactment of the walkout’s policy proposals.
Principal Troy Schueller said he was proud of how students who walked out, and students who remained in class, behaved. District spokesman Scott Maben said the district exercised its discretion to allow the brief, mass truancy to proceed without consequences as a way to include students in the national discussion over gun control.
Silk professed proficiency with firearms and Romanowski said she was a member of the school’s skeet and trap team. Wood proposed that her generation would exercise a strong influence on public policy through actions like Wednesday’s walkout.
“I believe that our generation is the most influential on the future and we will be the ones to make a change if we all come together,” Wood said. “Therefore, we must do what we can while we can have a long-lasting impact on our government.”