Students in the Rock Bridge High School branch of Students Demand Action are calling for changes to Missouri’s gun legislation. Students invited state representatives, school administrators, and other experts on gun violence to participate in a town hall discussion Sunday about what is being done to prevent gun violence in the state.
Rachael Erickson is the president of Students Demand Action at Rock Bridge High School. She says she was inspired to join the group after seeing the student activism brought on by the Parkland shooting of 2018.
“My whole life I’ve seen school shootings and mass shootings in the news, and none of the survivors had the emotional energy to speak out about it, and so seeing kids my age start to do so was really inspiring,” Erickson said.
Erickson also said while young people have responsibility to vote, a deep understanding of the issues is vital to making the most of their political engagement.
“I think it’s important that students begin educating ourselves before we turn 18. A lot of people seem to think that you can only really start to become politically active once you can start voting, but if you wait until you can vote to educate yourself, your vote is not gonna be that educated,” Erickson said.
Rock Bridge Principal Jacob Sirna was one of the panel members from the town hall meeting that fielded questions. Sirna said the goal of Columbia Public Schools has been to find a balance between a comfortable learning environment, while still effectively managing student safety.
“Our students have had to adjust to some differences, and they’ve adjusted really well and respectively, so I think when you frame things from the position of - this for our safety, our students respond appropriately,” Sirna said.
Some of the changes being made to keep students safe at Rock Bridge include securing the building entrances to make it easier to keep track of who is entering and leaving the school throughout the day.
Despite these security upgrades, some students still see the recent frequency of gun violence in the news as being a significant warning signal that further legislation is needed at the state level.
Vice president of Rock Bridge High School’s Students Demand Action, Anushka Jalisatgi, says that even though she hasn’t directly experienced gun violence, the issue has still affected her.
“This is something that is becoming increasingly more normal for students, and it is something we think about.” Jalisatgi said, “It could happen to any of us. It could happen at any place at any time…it is dangerous and it is becoming a little more scary.”
Jalisatgi said policy makers should approach gun violence from the standpoint of improving public health, rather than just viewing it as a partisan issue.
Other groups present at the town hall meeting included Moms Demand Action, as well as other concerned community members.