Portland students walk out to protest gun violence: ‘Kids over guns’

Hundreds of students in schools across Portland, Ore., walked out on Thursday to protest gun violence, according to local reports.

“Why do you only care that it should be your right to own a gun? Why do you not care that it should be our right to live?” a student asked during the protest, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Schoolchildren reportedly carried signs with slogans like “kids over guns.”

Middle and high school students called for gun control in a rally downtown, according to the Portland Mercury. KOIN6 reported some students were seen climbing the walls of Portland’s City Hall, though the protest remained peaceful.  

Schoolchildren in Portland and other cities nationwide have walked out in recent days to protest gun violence after a mass shooter killed three nine-year-olds and three adults in a Tennessee school last month. 

Everytown for Gun Safety said students at more than 300 schools in 42 states and Washington, D.C., walked out of class on Wednesday to call for gun safety reforms. Students in the Nashville area walked out on Monday. 

Rev. Bernice King, the daughter of slain civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., suggested that students “refuse to return to school until there is some significant legislation that bans assault weapons.”

Portland Public Schools said students are “rightly angry,” per a statement shared by the Portland Mercury.