Framingham High Students: 'No More Silence - End Gun Violence'

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FRAMINGHAM – This afternoon, April 5, more than 200 students walked out of Framingham High School to demand action against gun violence in schools.

Framingham High students were not alone, students across the Commonwealth and across America walked out of many high schools today, angry that school shooting happen so often in classroom across America.

Last month, an individual shot and killed six individuals inside a Nashville elementary school, including three 9-year-old children.

Since the Columbine High shooting in 1999, there have been more than 375 school shootings, according to the Washington Post.

There were more school shootings in 2022 — 46 — than in any year since at least 1999.

But today’s walkout and protest hit home for many students at Framingham High, even though there has never been a gun shot fired within the school.

In February, on the Friday before school vacation week, the district’s new active shooter alert systems went off by mistake, and thousands of students believed for a few minutes that there was an active shooting in J hall. It turned out to be false, but the experience was real for many students.

“I’m honestly still struggling with it a little bit. Like it was really traumatizing because no one in my classroom was happening, not even my teacher. It took the announcement like going around three times before my teacher was actually able to realize what was happening. And when she realized it was in the basement, she told us to get out,” said Alexis, a sophomore at Framingham High.

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“I wanted to come out today because me personally, I am absolutely terrified of dying in a school. Shooting like that is one of my biggest fears, and so I really support the people who created this. I personally know them. I’m really proud of them for doing this. And I know a lot of people are terrified of school shootings and a lot of people, they don’t want to die. Even though they may say it a lot, they may have thoughts of dying. I know that dying in a school shooting is one of the worst ways to possibly die, said Alexa.

The Framingham High walkout and protest was organized by Tessa McGarry, a sophomore at Framingham High, and a member of Students Demand Action.

“At Framingham High School, we have experiences two gun violence related incidents in the past two months,” said McGarry. “While they may have been false alarms, that does not subtract from the fear that gripped all of us those days.”

“We are fed up with being afraid. With this walkout, we hope to achieve more visibility about this issue in American, and to join our fellow student Demands Action groups nationwide in making our demands that our legislators to something to prevent gun violence in our schools, our homes, our streets, and our lives,”said McGarry.

During the protest on Winch Field, adjacent to Framingham, McGarry and co-organizer Sarah Wolff, shouted “No More Silence. End Gun Violence.”

The crowd of about 200 students, chanted back the words.

Other chants included “Enough is Enough. Disarm Hate” and “USA over NRA”.

SOURCE media, Telemundo, and a couple of Boston TV stations covered the protest. Framingham High Principal Amy Gerade, and several of the school’s vice principals and staff were on Winch Field for the protest, also.

McGarry planned the protest to coincide with third lunch at Framingham High, which starts at noon. Today was also a PM collaborative day for staff, which meant students would leave school earlier than a normal day. Buses started arrive around 12:45 p.m.

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“We were hoping to accomplish today was a change in the community and within our school. The fact that these events have been happening is just terrible. And I honestly never pictured such a huge community to come together with this. I’m very happy that they did,” said Wolff.

“I wanted to participate today mostly because of what happened back in February and everything that flourished out from that, alongside the extreme amount of not only mass shootings, but school shootings that have happened this year alone. And it’s only been a few months,” said Framingham High junior Achilles Hicks. “My friends organized this and I saw it and I immediately was thinking back to the swatting call that happened the day after the shooting that happened in Nashville. And it’s just an incredibly important issue.”

Click here to watch a video from the protest today, April 5.

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At one point during the 30-minute protest, McGarry read off names of schools where students were killed by guns, including Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School. After each name, students in the crowd shouted “not one more.”

The last time a student protest against gun violence was held by Framingham High students was in 2018, after the shooting at Sherman Douglas High School.

SOURCE asked McGarry why she thinks student voices have been silent at the high school, despite several more school shootings since 2018.

“I think we were all sort of afraid of doing something, I think because a lot of people had their opinions about it and they would all often share it with people. But I think it was the first time that someone, I think someone had to do something to say, hey, we all need to come together. And that was us too. And I think that was the reason why we waited so long. I think we were afraid to come together as a community,” said McGarry.

Framingham High student Patrick Almeida was one of the student protesters today, April 5.

He said he wanted to be a part of protest as he supports student voices and youth activism.

“I wanted to be a part of youth activism, on a grassroots level. I do think it starts with the younger generation, and I think that we are the ones that are experiencing these horrible tragedies firsthand. And I think if we aren’t advocating for ourselves, for us, the actual victims of gun violence, in the most case, I think no one else is a better advocate for this issue than ourselves,” said Almeida.

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“I think it’s important to me because we’re experiencing this in America more and more often, and I think many times, especially right now in political field right now, it’s being overlooked. Many times individuals are deflecting from the real root cause of this sometimes, which is we should have be having stronger gun regulations. I see a lot of times that whenever the question of gun rights or gun violence being brought up, it’s always deflected and it’s deferred to something else,” said Almeida.

Asked what the next steps are after the protest, organizer McGarry said to “spread the word that this happened. Get all the pictures and videos out there and spread the word that this is how Framingham feels about this. Because that’s why we need to share our opinion so that it inspires others to do something. Now, eventually all the people will come together and then that will affect real change in the State House.”