INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Thousands of students across the United States will mark the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School by walking out of
classes on Friday, in a show of unity intended to put pressure on politicians to enact tighter gun restrictions.Students from more than
2,600 schools and institutions are expected to walk out of class at 10 a.m
local time on Friday, organizers say
They have been asked to wear orange, the official color of the campaign against gun violence, and observe a 13-second silence to honor the
victims killed at Columbine."This movement is here to stay
We want solutions," organizers said on Thursday on Facebook.On April 20, 1999 two Columbine seniors killed 12 of their classmates and a
teacher before committing suicide
Since then mass shootings have occurred with shocking frequency across the United States.The second deadliest public school shooting in
United States history occurred in Parkland, Florida, on Feb
The shooting set off a national student movement calling for an end to gun violence and tighter gun restrictions.Friday's walkouts and
drive to sign up voters are aimed at pressuring United States politicians to enact tighter restrictions on gun sales in the run-up to
Colorado gun control activists rallied near Columbine High School, calling for an end to gun violence.Columbine has not held classes on
April 20 since the massacre, a district spokeswoman said, so there would be no walkout at the school
Students were encouraged to take part in community service.The latest national rally comes more than a month after tens of thousands of
students from some 3,000 schools participated in the #ENOUGH National School Walkout to demand that lawmakers seek tighter gun control
regulations.It also follows "March For Our Lives" rallies in cities across the United States on March 24 that were some of the biggest
United States youth demonstrations in decades, with hundreds of thousands of young Americans and their supporters taking to the streets to
demand tighter gun laws.Dudley Brown, president of the Colorado-based National Association for Gun Rights, said the gun-control movement
seeks to have the government take away rights."The main objective of these students is to ban firearms completely, and confiscate the
firearms of law-abiding Americans," Brown said
