Over 2,000 schools and groups walked out to protest mass school shootings on March 14.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5CwKSefnBA

Students across the U.S. walk out of school in protest of gun violence

Over 2,000 schools and groups have had 'enough.'

Photo of Ana Valens 

Ana Valens

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Posted on Mar 14, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 9:48 pm CDT

It’s been a full month since the Parkland high school shooting took 17 lives, and lawmakers have done little to end gun violence. But change is coming. Today starts the first of several marches and school walkouts led by American teens in an attempt to finally bring gun control laws to Congress and stop America’s violent school shooting epidemic.

The Women’s March Youth Empower is hosting #Enough: National School Walkout today, marking one month since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. The protest takes place for exactly 17 minutes, one minute for every life taken in the Parkland shooting. Each walkout starts at 10am local time, and students are given the freedom to do whatever they wish to honor the victims’ lives—from saying their names to standing in silence.

Even before the day began, students and parents across the country already turned to social media, using #Enough to share their shirts, flyers, posters, and outfits in support of the walkout.

https://twitter.com/laurenhagy40/status/973756561448456192

Others planned protests beyond the 17-minute walkout. Maryland’s Montgomery Blair High School, for instance, marched to the Silver Spring Metro Metro station stop early Wednesday morning in order to head over to a larger demonstration outside the White House.

https://twitter.com/WomensMarchY/status/973926690261958658

And when one group of teens found out that their high school prohibited participating in the walkout, several students went viral with a letter imploring the administration to reconsider their stance.

Once the walkout began at 10am ET, students took to social media in droves, coming out in protest despite low temperatures and even snowy weather.

https://twitter.com/cora/status/973920943100846082

https://twitter.com/evepeyser/status/973924085565722626

https://twitter.com/Cool_andGood/status/973922980542779392

https://twitter.com/michaelnaness_/status/973922971545997312

In one particularly heartbreaking display, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute students laid together on the ground in a “die-in,” representing the students who perished during the Parkland shooting.

One Connecticut school held a 17-minute sit-in, and a group of students in Pennsylvania spelled out “#ENOUGH” on their school’s track.

Walkouts continued throughout the day as each time zone hit 10am, with kids of all ages pouring out of schools to take a stand against gun violence.

https://twitter.com/B_RadWill/status/973930662142136320

https://twitter.com/itsemilybold/status/973943804708433922

One student even marched out to her snow-covered front yard and said the Parkland victims’ names aloud in the cold after her school was closed for the day.

https://twitter.com/leahrubinom/status/973960577600118789

Meanwhile, MTV and various Viacom-owned channels ended programming for 17 minutes, dedicating the segment “to young people who are leading the fight against gun violence.”

https://twitter.com/jessicagolds/status/973923535923109888

Celebrities are also tweeting their support throughout the day.

https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/973930072737505282

And in Parkland, students participated in their own walkout, with hundreds leaving the high school as their parents looked on in support.

https://twitter.com/diopter/status/973943251462967296

In total, over 2,800 schools and groups around the nation are expected to participate in the walkout today, Reuters reports. Two other protests—March for Our Lives on March 24, and National High School Walkout on April 20—are also being spearheaded by teen activists.

Whether Congress and state governments will enact any lasting change remains yet to be.

This article will be updated throughout the day to include walkouts in other time zones. 

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*First Published: Mar 14, 2018, 3:11 pm CDT

Ana Valens

Ana Valens is a reporter specializing in online queer communities, marginalized identities, and adult content creation. She is a former Daily Dot staff writer. Her work has appeared at Vice, Vox, Truthout, Bitch Media, Kill Screen, Rolling Stone, and the Toast. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and spends her free time developing queer adult games.

Ana Valens