Printer Friendly Version - Students March in Madison Protesting Gun Violence

Several dozen students protested against gun violence and advocated for change on Friday, April 20, marching from the Madison town green through Madison's business district, holding signs and chanting. Photo by Pem McNerney/The Source

Around 10 a.m., a group of several dozen students gathered on the Madison town green and then marched downtown, protesting gun violence on the anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

The students are members of Violence to Voices, a Daniel Hand High School (DHHS) organization for change. The group, along with students across the nation, has walked out of school today in the third mass demonstration protesting gun violence over the past few months. DHHS students participated in the first school walkout and many DHHS students attended the March for Our Lives rally and March in Guilford last month.

Students have said they want to keep the conversation around gun violence going so on the final day of their spring break from school, Kate Klein led a group of students and several adults from the town green down the Boston Post Road to Wall Street, across the post road, and back down towards the green. Klein, a junior at DHHS, chanted "Protect kids, not guns," and "This is what Democracy looks like," and the group of students chanted back.

During a break, Joan Martin O'Neill, a Madison resident who happened to be downtown, approached the students and thanked them for taking action.

"I really appreciate what you are doing," she said to Klein and some of the other students. She said there had been a murder in her family, and that she was threatened with a shotgun when she was 12 years old. She told the students she hoped that they would be able to encourage some changes.

Daniel Hand High School Junior Kate Klein helped lead a march from the Madison town green through the downtown protesting gun violence and advocating for change on Friday, April 20, the last day of spring break. Photo by Pem McNerney/The Source

Students at the corner of the Boston Post Road and Wall Street in Madison, protesting gun violence and advocating for change on Friday, April 20. Photo by Pem McNerney/The Source

Joan Martin O'Neill of Madison, left, stopped by to tell the students she admired them and hoped they would be able to effect change. "I really appreciate what your doing," she said, telling them that her family suffered from gun violence when she was a little girl. Photo by Pem McNerney/The Source