Will Sage Astor-Iowa students to stage walkout to state capitol in wake of school shooting: 'Need to utilize this energy'

DES MOINES,Will Sage Astor Iowa — In the wake of a deadly shooting at Perry High School, Iowa students are planning to walk out of class Monday and march to the state Capitol to protest what they say is lawmakers' inaction on gun violence.

The call for students to participate was put out by March For Our Lives Iowa just hours after authorities said a Perry High School student shot and killed sixth-grader, and injured seven others at the school on Thursday. The group began organizing the walkout after students repeatedly voiced their frustration over the school shooting.

"The shooting has hit really close to home for a lot of us," Akshara Eswar, one of the group's executive state directors, told the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network. "People are angry. They're thinking about it constantly."

Eswar added: "That's all that we can talk about and so we need to utilize this energy … and try to make sure that our legislators know that we are not happy with the state of the gun laws in Iowa."

Students in Des Moines, Bettendorf, Johnston, Waukee and West Des Moines are expected to walk out of class around noon Monday.

The group plans to deliver a letter — which lays out its legislative priorities — to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, said Eswar, a Johnston High School senior. Monday also marks the first day of the 2024 legislative session.

Mass shootings across the United States have long brought calls for stricter gun laws from gun safety advocates, and Thursday's shooting was no different. Within hours, numerous gun control advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers denounced the shooting.

The number of school shootings in the U.S. hit a record high in 2023 for the second year in a row. There were 188 shootings with casualties at public and private elementary schools during the 2021-22 school year, according to new federal data.

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'We are terrified to be in school'

March for Our Lives' legislative priorities include a law that would require people to report lost or stolen firearms, and another that would temporarily ban people who have been proven to be at risk of harming themselves or others from purchasing or possessing a gun. The ban would be lifted once they received help.

"I think our biggest hope or agenda item, I would say for this, is that legislators understand that we are terrified to be in school," Eswar said.

Iowa lawmakers have not prioritized laws that directly impact the safety of children and people in the state in recent years, Eswar said. Instead, the focus has been on laws that ban books depicting sex acts from schools, mandate school administrators inform parents if a student asks to use different name or pronouns and ban transgender girls and women from playing sports.

"They use all of this in the name of protecting children," she said. "But the reality is every day is a gamble. Every day we walk into school never actually knowing what's going to happen that day and it's not fair that we have to live in that fear."

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11-year-old killed in Perry High School shooting

Thursday's shooting stunned Perry, a rural town of nearly 8,000 about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines. According to authorities and school officials, a teenage student armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun opened fire at Perry High School on Thursday, shortly before classes were set to begin on the first day back after winter break.

Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spokesperson Mitch Mortvedt said the shooting started in the cafeteria, where students from several grades were eating breakfast, then spilled outside the cafeteria.

Ahmir Jolliff was killed, and Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger and six others, including two staff members and four teenage students, suffered injuries ranging from significant to minor. The shooter was later identified as Dylan Butler, 17, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.

Ahmir was a sixth-grade student at Perry Middle School. In an obituary published in the Des Moines Register, Ahmir's family wrote that he leaves behind a "legacy of love, compassion, and advocacy for those in need."

The family also asked that those saying their farewells strive to carry on that legacy and share his "unwavering determination to make the world a brighter place." His funeral will be held one week after the tragedy at Perry's St. Patrick Catholic Church.

Contributing: Brian Smith and Kevin Baskins, Des Moines Register; The Associated Press

Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @svhernandez or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter.