Students Host Pro-Gun Walkout

In response to the recent walkouts led by the organization Stuy Says ENOUGH!, which advocates for increased gun regulation, a group of students led their own peaceful protest in Rockefeller Park in support of Second Amendment rights on Tuesday, May 2.

“We are students who are standing up for [...] all of our rights. We believe the natural right of self-protection should not be infringed simply because some individuals have used firearms for senseless attacks,” said junior Alvin Ye, who organized the pro-gun walkout.

Ye and other protesters disapprove of how the gun control walkout was conducted and the rhetoric used by those protesters. Ye was opposed to the use of chants such as “NRA, how many kids have you killed today?” claiming they were “slander.”

“[We sought to] read [speeches] and facts rather than yell obscene comments,” Ye said regarding his own protest.

The event, originally intended to be a walkout during school hours, was part of the national, student-led “Stand for the Second” movement. The organization arranged walkouts in high schools across America on Tuesday, May 2.

The Stuyvesant chapter of the movement is relatively small. “About nine people actually led/stood/held signs,” Ye said. The movement did, however, gain significant attention at Rockefeller Park. Though the protesters were generally left alone by the public, two Stuyvesant students heckled them.

Though the national gun control movement has grown after the recent mass shooting in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the pro-gun protesters emphasized the need for other precautionary measures to be made instead. “There are many things that we could do to improve the safety of our schools without infringing on the rights of law-abiding citizens. Some solutions for school safety we should discuss in this community are better surveillance, more security guards, and allowing willing teachers who are properly trained and mentally fit to have access to a firearm to stave off potential attacks,” Ye said. “Protecting our natural rights, which are protected by the Constitution, [is] just as important, and that’s the message that we want to send.”