Features

Students Against Gun Violence Club

Cari Spencer, Editor in Chief|March 12, 2018

Students across America have been rallying, ever since the Feb. 14 Stoneman Marjory High School shooting brought the gun control debate, again, to the front of the nation. This time, however, it seems as if the debate will not be easily silenced, and certainly not at Orono High School. During Spartan Hour on Feb. 28, juniors Zoey Larson, Isabel Bergerson, Gabriella Bann and Kristin Pearson lead the first OHS Students Against Gun Violence club meeting in the auditorium. English teacher Jarett Lundquist was the advisor of the meeting, and school liaison officer Jason Barnes and Principal David Benson were in attendance as well.

“Today’s meeting was just a trial basically to see if people are interested, we had a bigger group of people than we expected but we were happy to see that many students interested in our club and willing to discuss,” Bergerson said, “Going forward we hope to have more focused and fruitful discussion, rather than just debating back and forth, and we hope to push Orono students to get involved in movements outside of school ie. March for our Lives, Lobby Day, etc.”

Bann said that the idea for the club was formed during the lockdown on Feb. 21. “It just kind of made us realize and become more aware of these issues that are going on, and so during the lockdown because we had time to research some, we decided ‘we need to do something about this’ so we decided ‘this is what we’re gonna do.’”

Soon after, the club founders began recruiting people to join a group message. Once they got the “okay” from Benson and Lundquist on board as the advisor, they started a Google Classroom (code: 5c1udmv) and hung posters around the halls. As of March 5, the Classroom had 64 members stretching across all four grade levels, not including the leaders.

“We have to respect the fact that there are as many perspectives on this as there are people, and everyone is looking at it through their own experience, through their own thinking, through their own values,” Benson said, addressing the auditorium at the start of the meeting, “Now the first time we get together it’s important for people to have that chance to talk about themselves and what they think and what they feel. I would ask that we just respect each other, we’re not going to debate, we’re not going to argue … we need to start right.”

After Benson delivered his words to the attendees, the leaders shared events that they want the club to participate in together: a school walk-out on March 14, March for our Lives on March 24 and Lobby Day on April 18. Lobby Day participants will start at Christ Lutheran Church in St. Paul, then walk to the Capitol to discuss gun violence prevention with state legislators, according to Moms Demand Action. Other details for the events and the club in general are not yet concrete, according to Bergerson and Bann.

Although some students are planning to go to the march by themselves, Bann said that she plans for the club to attend the march together, “It would be better for us all to be united as one, then to have just a couple random people,” she said. Bann also said that she met with leaders from eight other West Metro school anti-gun violence clubs to coordinate events like March for our Lives, as well as plan their own protests with targeted support from Students Demand Action.

The next portion of the meeting was devoted to watching a video of Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez’s Feb. 17 speech and opening the floor to discussion. Ground rules were laid out, for example those participating in the discussion were not allowed to yell or insult others; these rules were adhered to, despite the differing opinions that were shared at the meeting.

“I was really interested in what everyone had to say. I wanted to get an idea of where you [students] all stood on such an important topic,” Barnes said, “ was very impressed with the presentation and respect shown by students who attended.” Officer Barnes was invited to attend the meeting, but he said he also chose to go out of his own interest.

The conversation ranged from the types of firearms that should/shouldn’t be banned, the Second Amendment, how accessible guns are, gang violence and whether or not teachers should be armed. Opinions ranged from those who believed gun control wouldn’t fix the problem of school shootings to those who wanted strict gun control and certain weapons banned.

Junior Carter Brandt was one of the meeting attendees who held views that differed from many club members, but he said he tried to keep an open mind. “I decided ‘you know what, I’ve not been to one of these before, I’m gonna come here with an open mind and see what I can take out of it,’ … I also wanted to get some nice conversations going on with other kids in the room, which I think I did,” Brandt said, “I still believe that more gun control ain’t gonna really help the problem as much as trying to get rid of the black market of illegal guns in America.”

The date of the next meeting and whether or not the club will continue next year are still in discussion, according to Bergerson, but the leaders are hoping that Orono students will become more involved with political movements and marches to make themselves heard.

“I think your generation is in a unique position to stand up for things. Throughout the years I’ve seen the shift from my generation, apathy is basically the way you’d probably define them, to the millenials who just wanted to wreck stuff–you guys aren’t quite that anymore. You kind of seem to want to fix things,” Lundquist said, “I think jumping into that fear is something your generation is more willing to do … it’s a responsibility you’re willing to take on.”