The nationwide high school walkout today demanding action on gun control has been captivating and energizing the nation as the most publicized student protest since the Vietnam War era protests swept the country.
The need for the walkout was only made more evident by an incident at a Bay Area high school in California that was put on lockdown for a shooting threat just minutes after a group at the school posted this picture of their part in today’s protests on Twitter.
This was us only 5 minuets before the lockdown happened at San Leandro high school, we wanted our voices to be heard for the nation wide walk our walk at 10, such irony is sad pic.twitter.com/EQ6orDI5f3
— Julian (@Julian25L) March 14, 2018
Indeed, the irony of the students holding what could have been a prophetic sign on the day of such massive anti-gun demonstrations is underscored by the reason for the lockdown, which was called after a scrawled threat was found on the wall of a school bathroom stall.
“I’m shooting the school tomorrow at 1. I’m sick of this sh*t. Better not come. F*#k this place.”
@KTVU someone wrote this at San Leandro high school bath room in CA San Leandro now the school is in lock down please talk about this is not funny and this needs to be stopped pic.twitter.com/ranVwyk5v9
— Roger (@_StarFox) March 14, 2018
The San Leandro school district took the move as a precautionary measure to inspect the ground of the school for weapons or explosives. A student tweeted that all of the students at the school were accounted for and safe.
I am a student at San Leandro high school and I’m tweeting for the students and I can confirm we are all currently safe and locked inside of our classrooms. No new information has surfaced about the picture or who the suspect could of been, updating soon @NBCNews
— Julian (@Julian25L) March 14, 2018
The same student sent an update a little later with a rumor that two guns had been found on the floor of the boy’s restroom, but that claim was later refuted by local law enforcement.
update: the K9 units are here, and "apparently" two guns were found in the boys bathroom floor in one of the buildings but that so far is just a rumor
— Julian (@Julian25L) March 14, 2018
Perhaps none of the thousands of walkouts across the country today will be as effective an argument for the need for heightened gun control measures as this one ironic school lockdown should prove to be. Even in a state with fairly strict gun laws, the fact is that lax regulation in neighboring states means that unregulated guns can still flow freely into California, undermining any local regulations that are passed.
It is for this reason that students are walking out of class today, determined to persevere until national universal background checks and a national ban on assault rifles and high capacity magazines are instituted and the NRA is defeated in their attempts to prevent action against these tools of death.