One year later, and high school students are still waiting to see gun reform.<\/p>\n
Students Demand Action, an organization made up of about 20 Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé students, organized a vigil for the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people died.<\/p>\n
In addition to memorializing lives lost to gun violence, organizers said the event at the Capitol Thursday was meant as a signal to State Legislators almost a year after Juneau high-schoolers joined students across the nation in walkouts<\/a> that gun violence remains an important issue to young voters.<\/p>\n “We want to spread the idea that we’re here and fight for our rights as students,” said Portia Carney, a Juneau-Douglas junior, Students Demand Action member and one of the vigil’s leaders. “We shouldn’t have to be scared to go to school.”<\/p>\n Prior to the vigil, students also passed out valentines related to the issue of gun violence to legislators.<\/p>\n During the event, students advocated for the type of change they would like to see.<\/p>\n “I offer a few ideas that many of my peers and I see as common sense,” said Katie McKenna, a Juneau-Douglas junior, member of Students Demand Action and one of the vigil’s leaders. “First, instead of arming teachers, equip them with the resources necessary to support kids in need. We won’t get there by slashing budgets. Don’t take all guns away since we are a state with cultures and economies that depend on hunting, but take them out of the hands that are unfit to hold them.”<\/p>\n