Students participate in National Walk Out and counter-protest

Students here locally participated in the National Walk Out. The walkout began at 10 a.m. and lasted 17 minutes, one minute for each life lost in Parkland, FL.

Hillcrest High School in Bonneville County and Pocatello High School in Bannock County had students walk out in support.

“A lot of these school shootings are done with assault rifles that people should not have to begin with,” says Jass Ahquoi, student at Pocatello High School.

“I’m so shocked, we were scared. As we were posting this on our Snapchat and asking people to come we got replies saying this is stupid, there’s no point in doing this I will not walk out with you, and there’s a counter-movement called ‘Walk Up’ and kids were saying they weren’t coming to the walkout because they wanted to do that instead. So I’m so happy and I’m so proud of my high school for showing that they care about gun safety,” says Ara Omotowa, student at Hillcrest High School.

There were also students counter protesting.

“Honestly, I think that we should leave guns alone. We should leave law abiding citizens alone. I should still have access to guns. Just because someone committed a heinous act with a gun doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have the right to have a gun,” said Clarence Springsteed, student at Pocatello High School.

“If somebody else walks in and they come to shoot us, we want something to protect us, and if you don’t have a gun that’s equal to their gun power, they’re going to win the fight so we just kind of feel like we need to stand up for our guns and keep our second amendment,” says Jaden Andersen, student at Hillcrest High School.

At 10:17 a.m., students on both sides went back to continue the school day.