Minnesota students walk out to demand gun changes

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hundreds of students walked out of class Tuesday and gathered in downtown Minneapolis to demand state legislators adopt tougher gun laws in the wake of last week’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The Star Tribune reported the students walked out around 12:30 p.m. and gathered in Gold Medal Park. They demanded officials create a statewide advisory group made up of students and teachers from every school district in the state to discuss ways to reduce gun violence in schools.

They also want legislators to cut down on the number of active shooter drills required by state law. Right now schools must conduct at least five drills each year. Students insist the drills cause trauma and they want the state to require only two drills.

Other demands include funding for mental health counseling for every student in Minnesota and a ban on AR-15-style assault rifles.

Fridley High School junior Jean Rhodes says the school shooting was even more unnerving because it came less than two weeks after a white gunman killed 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York. She says students deserve to feel safe.

Students across the country have held similar walkouts over the Uvalde shootings.