Gabrielle Kensy, junior, is too familiar with gun violence. Before she lived in Missouri, she lived in Oklahoma where gun violence was prominent. She said it’s like deja vu when she hears of gun violence today.

“I think gun violence is getting worse and worse. Every other day it seems to happen, and I feel like politicians in this country don’t want to do anything about it,” Kensy said. “They seem to care about banning books more than they do about selling children rifles.”

On Monday, March 27, Audrey Hale, Nashville resident who identified as transgender killed three children and three adults at Covalent School, located in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.

In response to gun violence, Students Demand Action inspired walkouts across the country on Wednesday, April 5. For MHS, Kensy organized a walkout for 12 p.m. that day.

Participants met by the fields and brought posters and Kensy said a few words about gun violence. Kensy said the crowd was unfortunately small with fewer than 10 participants because she said she thought students were scared of getting in trouble.

Principal Dr. Steve Hankins knew of the walkout in advance. 

“It’s an unexcused absence. But hopefully, as in the past, kids that do, don’t disrupt the school day,” Dr. Hankins said. “People have different political views, different political opinions, even on something like this.”

Dr. Hankins said he has never had an issue with students who have protested on school grounds. For the walkout, Dr. Hankins found a safe place for the students who congregated.

Dr. Hankins agreed that more attention needs to be brought to the issue of gun violence.

“It’s unneeded. It’s scary. It’s horrifying,” he said. “I wish as a nation we were not having this enormous problem, but unfortunately, there’s no easy answer. This is not something that we can ignore or sweep under the rug. We need to be focused on it and making sure our kids are safe.”

Though Dr. Hankins said he is fearful and alert of the recent gun violence, he has faith that the MHS community will respond accordingly.

“In November, we had some scary situations. I do feel that our staff and our students handled that amazingly,” Dr. Hankins said. “Hopefully, we’ll never have to go through something like that again.”

Kensy said it is absolutely crucial for one to stand up for their rights and for what they believe in. 

“We are the ones living in this time right now and experiencing violence,” Kensy said. “It’s up to us to show that we want change.” 

There has been no evidence linking Audrey Hale’s motive for the school shooting to her transgender identity. However, there has been a push since then for restrictions on trans identity such as the limit of trans health care. 

“I think since the shooting occurred by a transgender woman, it makes them a target, and the government sees them as the problem, not the guns,” Kensy said.

During November 17 and 18, students and faculty members of MHS were dismissed in the afternoon due to a social media threat. 

Jacob Goldenberg, junior, participated in the walkout.

“I have a 9-year-old niece, and I don’t want that to be a part of her future,” Goldenberg said. “I’m sorry that this is still happening. These are preventable deaths, and it’s not okay.”

Goldenberg said gun violence is a serious problem that is preventable. He said that after the recent school shooting, leaders of the country have been finding problems off the subject instead of looking for a solution.

“I don’t know why people take it off the subject. Because trans was not the problem. It was the gun,” Goldenberg said. “It’s the gun violence and has nothing to do with what they identify as or their religion.”

Lubaba Ahmed, junior, member of the LGBTQ+ community also agrees with Goldenberg that blame is unfairly placed onto the community.

“It’s sad to see the school shootings and nothing really being done about them,” Ahmed said. “It definitely is unfair that trans people are being scapegoated.”