STUDENTS DEMAND ACTION: Walkout for Gun Violence

On August 27th, 2025, a woman named Robin Westman fired through the windows of a Catholic school, killing two and injuring eighteen. This attack is only one of countless preventable shootings in the USA. To battle against the infuriating lack of gun control in our country, a variety of collectives have been calling lawmakers to action; for the adolescent portion of these activists, an organization named Student Demand Action (SDA) started in 2018 in response to the Parkland school shooting. As SDA continues to grow, more schools are participating in the long-standing effort against the legality of assault rifles. Their latest project, following the recent shooting in Minneapolis, was the nation-wide walkout that happened this Friday (September 5th). Our very own Herron High School’s SDA chapter, who organized the walkout in Indiana, gives us more insight on the details–and impact–of the gun control protest that happened at Indiana’s state capital this Friday.

Herron’s halls were thick with anticipation for the walkout as the clock hit twelve o’clock on Friday. Teens streamed out into the streets and hurried to the statehouse, buzzing with shared excitement.

Club leaders Holden Pasley and Emerson Burden have participated in other protests led through SDA, including another demonstration at the statehouse, so they are no stranger to a fight. During Pasley’s speech she exclaimed, “so many of us have been affected yet our lawmakers refuse to take action,” to which the audience responded with roars of agreement.

Leader Emerson Burden gives a powerful speech to the large crowd of student protestors.

Herron is not the only Indy school to partake, however. Hundreds of Shortridge, North Central, and Brebeuf students also attended the protest. The crowd of students raged with shouts of “enough is enough!” and waved their handmade, scrappy signs at the statehouse, cheering at the various speakers which consisted of several Indiana senators, presidents from different SDA chapters, a member of Moms Demand Action, and Holden Pasley at the helm of it all. Her speech memorialized the Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Parkland shootings, and the many lives that were taken in vain due to the legality of assault rifles. Pasley sent a chill of reality through the crowd when reminiscing over the fact that “the Parkland kids, if the appropriate gun laws had existed, would be college sophomores; the same age as my older brother.”

Senator La Keisha Jackson hugs organizer Holden Pasley after her speech.

The atmosphere reflected the empowerment and anger of a generation who has grown up with shooter drills and a negligent government. On site were volunteers passing out water and registering teens to vote, and students were passing around a sketchbook and sharpie to make haphazard protest signs. For many students, this protest was a first-time experience. When asked if they would attend future protests, they confidently affirmed.

The future voters of Indianapolis gathered around the statehouse to demand that all guns be registered, that a permit be required for the ownership of arms, and most importantly that assault weapons be illegalized. Senators Andrea Hunley, La Keisha Jackson, and Fady Qaddoura all promised that they are demanding change for our futures on the congress floor, though they often face setbacks from their Republican colleagues who hold the majority. As reflected in a speech by Crystal Paschal, a member of Moms Demand Action, “we should be disappointed in our lawmakers for not protecting our children; they are our most valuable resource.”