Students in Virginia and nationwide are planning to walkout on Friday to demand changes in legislation after the school shooting in Minneapolis last week. Two children were killed on their first week back to school.
The shooter allegedly used an AR-15-style assault weapon and was armed with multiple high-capacity magazines, as well as a shotgun and pistol.
Students Demand Action, a grassroots arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, is coordinating the effort to demand lawmakers pass a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“Gun violence is a national crisis and that’s why we’ll be walking out of school to demand our lawmakers pass an assault weapons ban,” said Timberlyn Mazeikis, a gun violence survivor from the school shooting at Michigan State University in 2023. “Until we get these weapons of war off our streets, gun violence will continue to wreak havoc in our schools, homes and communities.”
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In Virginia, walkouts are planned at high schools including Hermitage in Henrico County, West Potomac and Alexandria City in Alexandria, Manchester in Midlothian, First Colonial and Princess Anne in Virginia Beach and Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in Richmond.
Old Dominion University students also have a walkout planned in Norfolk.
There have been five shootings at K-12 schools this fall, according to research by Everytown. In 2025, there have been nearly 100 incidents of gunfire on school grounds with 31 deaths.
When an assault weapon is used in a mass shooting nearly six times as many people are shot and more than twice as many are killed.
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Crystal Graham
