Thousands of high school students, many still far from voting age, are streaming out of schools across the country today to protest against gun violence in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17 people.

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“I’m just mad there’s no action by our government representatives,” Daniel Rogov, a junior in Brooklyn, New York, said today.

“It’s all thoughts and prayers; it’s all talk,” he told ABC News. “After a gun violence tragedy there’s a speech talking about how we need change but there never is change.”

Timothy Clary/AFP/Getty Images

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Bernard Thomas/The Herald-Sun via AP

The event, which began at 10 a.m. across every time zone, was officially scheduled to last 17 minutes -- one minute for each of the victims gunned down in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. But many students are rallying for much longer.

To the students at Stoneman Douglas, Daniel's message is, “Keep making your voices heard. While the politicians might stop talking about this, we’re not done.”

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

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Over 3,000 walkout events were registered to take part in today's call on Congress to pass tighter gun control laws, according to ENOUGH National School Walkout, the event organizers.

The walkouts are across the nation, from Michigan to Maryland, from Colorado to California, and from the White House to Washington state.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo joins students protesting for stricter gun laws in New York City as part of #NationalWalkoutDay. https://t.co/JuOWURifIL pic.twitter.com/4pcTTVA1zW — ABC News (@ABC) March 14, 2018

The youngest kids I’ve seen so far. 11,12, & 13 year old students from Takoma Park Middle school pic.twitter.com/EBUvLZwv5p — Abby Cruz (@Abbbbeeeyyy) March 14, 2018

"Remember why we are walking out," Stoneman Douglas survivor Lauren Hogg wrote on Twitter today. "We are walking out for my friends that passed, all children that have been taken because of gun violence. We are walking out for the empty desks in my classes, and the unsaid goodbyes. This epidemic of School shootings must stop."

Remember why we are walking out. We are walking out for my friends that passed, all children that have been taken because of gun violence. We are walking out for the empty desks in my classes, and the unsaid goodbyes. This epidemic of School shootings must stop. #Enoughwalkout — Lauren Hogg (@lauren_hoggs) March 14, 2018

In Washington, D.C., a huge crowd of chanting students gathered in front of the White House. Once the clock struck 10 a.m., the students silently sat down with their backs to the White House.

Even though most teenagers can’t vote, “we just want the White House to hear us,” Abby Silverman of Bethesda, Maryland, told ABC News outside the White House.

Kevin Butler told ABC News he came to the White House to “make sure there are stricter gun laws,” and even though the president wasn’t there during the sit-in, Kevin thinks their voices will be heard.

ABC News

Michael Reynolds/EPA/REX/Shutterstock

From the White House, the students marched to a rally at Capitol Hill.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

At one Evanston, Illinois, school, about 3,000 of the 3,500 students walked out, the school said.

“We should come to school and be protected, not where we have to come to school and fear for our lives,” Evanston student Alexis Harris Dyer told ABC News "We are all gathered together to show that we care, to show that we have voices. We are young people and we are passionate about what we have to say.”

At the massive walkout was a massive call-in, as students flooded lawmaker's offices all at once with calls for gun reform.

“I’m a high school constituent of [Gov.] Bruce Rauner," one teen said on the phone. "I’m calling to request that you take action to reform our nations gun laws.”

“Often our words are ignored," Dyer said, "So I think this is a way where we can actually be taken seriously.”

Student Emma Stein added, “I hope to inspire the next generation of voters and get young people engaged in the political process and to hold their representatives accountable. ... As long as there’s a threat of mass shootings in schools, I think students will remain very dedicated to the issue.”

Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

At a rally in Denver, high schooler Jlynn Terroade said, "It's really important for students to exercise their rights and be activists for what they believe in. That's what today was all about."

"Our Second Amendment seems to seem to care about guns more than students," Terroade told ABC News. "We have to empower ourselves."

Another Colorado student, Adriana Strode, added, "You don't want your brother, sister, your daughter to be the next victims of a mass shooting. ... We're here to open people's eyes so they can see this is a big issue."

Students are holding up the names and pictures of those who died in the Parkland, Fla shootings. #walkoutbayarea pic.twitter.com/VDsQGNL7ad — Amy Hollyfield (@amyhollyfield) March 14, 2018

Women’s March Youth Coordinator Tabitha St. Bernard Jacobs, one of the few adult allies guiding the students in the youth-led movement, told ABC News before the event that while the walkout was sparked by the Florida school shooting, the event is about pressuring Congress to act against gun violence overall.

She said the walkout was a way to shed light on the kind of gun violence that exists not just in schools but every day, like shootings that affect communities of color or devastate cities like Chicago.

How participants spent those 17 minutes of the walkout was up to them, St. Bernard Jacobs said. Some people were doing a lie-in, while others held rallies, she said.

Thousands of miles away from Parkland, Florida, at a Southern California school, students placed 17 empty desks in the quad, each with a flower and a picture for the 17 shooting victims.

At one Michigan high school, the names of all school-shooting victims were read as students walked out in silence, according to the school.

Students at Crestwood HS honored the victims of mass shootings in schools today. #enough pic.twitter.com/850vALBt3w — Crestwood Activities (@CrestwoodActivi) March 14, 2018

Enough is enough. Students walk out at Las Lomas high school Walnut Creek #abc7news pic.twitter.com/1cbAolSmG1 — Leslie Brinkley (@lrbrinkley) March 14, 2018

Students from around the world were also eager to participate.

Students at the Zurich International School in Switzerland took part, gathering outside in the shape of a peace sign. Students snapped this photo via a drone.

Courtesy Zurich International School

"I'm really proud of our two students who organized the event and took the photos," Upper School Principal John Switzer said via email.

Izzy Harris, a student at the American School in London, said students at her school, including herself, walked out "to demonstrate that the U.S. government needs to make changes to their gun laws."

"Although we are not directly affected in the U.K., a number of us are American and have many connections to the U.S.," she told ABC News via video.

Matt Dunham/AP

While many school districts were supportive of the protests, some schools had threatened to discipline students participating in walkouts.

At the high school on a South Korean base where U.S. military forces are stationed, officials warned students not to walk out, saying policy prohibits protests on U.S. military installations.

"Seoul American High School will maintain a roster of any students who walks out of class and will provide that list to the Yongsan Garrison Command Team to determine if any further steps are warranted," Principal Donald Toy Williams Jr. wrote in a memo to parents and sponsors posted on the school's Facebook page today. "We would also like to note that any student who leaves campus during the walkout time will be dealt with by the military police who will take their name, information, and then escort them back into school control immediately."

In Plainfield, Illinois, where some students had planned to walk out, doing so came with a guideline.

Students who wanted to participate in the walkout also had to attend an after-school discussion with state legislators to discuss issues that relate to school violence, like the political process, school safety, gun control and what influences politicians, Plainfield School District Superintendent Lane Abrell told ABC News.

A student who walked out but did not attend the discussion with state legislators would get a one-hour detention, Abrell said.

Abrell said the walkout "in my opinion ... doesn't really solve the issue," and the meeting with local legislators is a way for students who genuinely are passionate about the cause to learn how school violence issues can be solved.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said schools could punish students for missing class for walkouts, but the punishment should only be because students missed school and not as a harsher punishment because the students participated in a protest.

Dozens of colleges and universities had said they won't penalize applicants who are peaceful student protesters.

ABC News' Ali Rogin, Connor Burton, Elizabeth Mclaughlin, Katherine Carroll, Frank Elaridi, Rachel Katz, Doug Lantz, Andy Fies, Dennis Powell, Fergal Gallagher, Armando Garcia, Evan McMurry and Samantha Reilly contributed to this report.</s>Thousands of students walked out of classrooms nationwide Wednesday to protest gun violence and call for new gun control measures on the one month anniversary of the Parkland school shooting that left 17 dead and sparked a grassroots wave of activism.

From Maine to Hawaii, students left school to demonstrate against gun violence in what could be the biggest display yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last month’s massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In nearly 3,000 protests nationwide, students from the elementary to college level took up the call in a variety of ways. Some took part in roadside rallies to honor shooting victims and protest violence. Others held demonstrations in school gyms or on football fields. In Massachusetts and Georgia and Ohio, students went to the statehouse to lobby for new gun regulations.

The coordinated walkouts were loosely organized by Empower, the youth wing of the Women’s March, which brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to Washington, D.C., last year. The group urged students to leave class at 10 a.m. local time for 17 minutes — one minute for each victim in the Florida shooting — and suggested demands for lawmakers, including an assault weapons ban and mandatory background checks for all gun sales.

“Our elected officials must do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to this violence,” the group said on its website.

Students spoke out about why they chose to leave class.

Amanya Paige, 16, a junior at Parkdale High School in Prince George’s County, told the Washington Post that many schools in her district are participating in on-campus walkouts “to pay our respects and to show that the student voice matters and we won’t stand for the lack of gun control when it comes to school safety. This is where we spend the majority of our time and pray that we are safe every day.”

“Seventeen people are dead and I am no longer willing to listen to politicians who deem my life less valuable than a piece of metal.” — Maya Homan, of Palo Alto, Calif., told the New York Times.

In Parkland, a walkout at Stoneman Douglas is expected to remain within the school’s perimeter, in part for safety reasons, Ashley Schulman, a 17-year-old senior, told the Wall Street Journal.

But each community was urged to shape its own protests, and while parents and teachers in many districts worked together to organize age-appropriate activities, school administrators had mixed reactions. Some have applauded students for taking a stand, while others threatened discipline.

Districts in Sayreville, New Jersey, and Maryland’s Harford County drew criticism this week when they said students could face punishment for leaving class. In Pensacola, Florida, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas ordered students to hold an in-school assembly instead, telling them they could discuss voting and mental health issues, but not guns, and saying that political banners would not be allowed.

“You can’t make political statements, it can’t be a pro-gun or anti-gun assembly,” Thomas told the Pensacola News-Journal.

Free speech advocates are ready for any confrontations.

The American Civil Liberties Union issued advice for students, saying schools can’t legally punish them more harshly because of the political nature of their message. In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Texas, some lawyers said they will provide free legal help to students who are punished. The ACLU of Georgia’s guidance letters to districts said “The United States Supreme Court has long held that students do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate’.”

This nationwide action is one of several protests planned for coming weeks. The March for Our Lives rally for school safety is expected to draw hundreds of thousands to the nation’s capital on March 24, its organizers said. And another round of school walkouts is planned for April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado.

After the walkout Wednesday, some students in Massachusetts say they plan to rally outside the Springfield headquarters of Smith & Wesson, where students and religious leaders are expected to call on the gun maker to help reduce gun violence.

At Case Elementary School in Akron, Ohio, a group of fifth-graders organized a walkout with the help of teachers after seeing parallels in a video they watched about youth marches for civil rights in 1963. Case instructors said 150 or more students will line a sidewalk along a nearby road, carrying posters with the names of Parkland victims.

The walkouts have drawn support from companies including media conglomerate Viacom, which said it will pause programming on MTV, BET and all its other networks for 17 minutes during the walkouts, and allow students to temporarily take over MTV’s social media accounts.

In suburban Atlanta, one of Georgia’s largest school systems announced that students who participate might face unspecified consequences.

But some vowed to walk out anyway, understanding that accepting punishments is part of what can make civil disobedience powerful.

“Change never happens without backlash,” said Kara Litwin, a senior at Pope High School in the Cobb County School District.

The possibility of being suspended “is overwhelming, and I understand that it’s scary for a lot of students,” said Lian Kleinman, a junior at Pope High. “For me personally this is something I believe in, this is something I will go to the ends of the Earth for.”

Other schools sought a middle ground, offering “teach-ins” or group discussions on gun violence and working to keep things safe. Officials at Boston Public Schools said they arranged a day of observance Wednesday with a variety of activities “to provide healthy and safe opportunities for students to express their views, feelings and concerns.” Students who don’t want to participate could bring a note from a parent to opt out.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) – At schools across the country, students participated in a walkout to protest gun violence.

It’s the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that’s emerged following the massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month.

Students at the high school walked out at 10 a.m. and planned to stay out for 17 minutes, one for each victim of the shooting.

In an online livestream, David Hogg, a senior at the school who’s become one of the public faces of protests against gun violence, criticized politicians for not doing more as he walked amid a mass of people.

More than 30 Pittsburgh-area schools were expected to participate in the walkout.

Meanwhile, Moon Area High School will be spending their morning writing letters to their lawmakers, asking for change and more mental health professionals in schools.

In Washington, D.C., thousands of students gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, holding colorful signs and cheering in support of gun control.

The students chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho. The NRA has got to go!” and “What do we want? Gun control! When do we want it? Now!”

President Donald Trump was traveling in Los Angeles and was not in the White House during the demonstrations.

The protests have drawn mixed reactions from school administrators. While some applaud students for taking a stand, others threatened discipline.

Stay With KDKA.com For More Details</s>Students across the United States walked out of classes on Wednesday in a nationwide call for action against gun violence following the shooting deaths last month at a Florida high school.

Hundreds of students from Washington area schools gathered outside the White House chanting "Never again!" and "Enough is enough!" and holding signs reading "Protect People Not Guns."

At 10:00 am (1400 GMT), students in numerous cities held a moment of silence to honor the 14 students and three adult staff killed on Valentine's Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The "National School Walkout" was intended to last for 17 minutes, one for each victim.

But it quickly became apparent that many students at schools on the East Coast decided not to go to classes at all and to demonstrate instead.

The nationwide protest is being held one month to the day after Nikolas Cruz, a troubled 19-year-old former student at Stoneman Douglas, unleashed a hail of gunfire on his former classmates.

The event to honor those slain at Stoneman Douglas is also an act of protest against the firearms violence plaguing the United States, which has more than 30,000 gun-related deaths annually.

Organizers come from the same group behind the Women's March, which saw millions of demonstrators take to the streets in cities across the country in January 2017 to protest Donald Trump's White House inauguration.

Trump had momentarily signaled support for increasing restrictions on guns, but now stands accused of bowing to the powerful US gun lobby.</s>WASHINGTON: One month to the day after a 19-year-old shooter unleashed a hail of gunfire at a Florida high school, tens of thousands of American students will stage a school walkout in a politically charged tribute to the victims.

The "National School Walkout" slated to begin on Wednesday at 10.00am will last 17 minutes - one for each victim shot dead during the Valentine's Day massacre in Parkland.

The event to honour those slain at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School - organised by the same group behind the Women's March, which in January 2017 saw millions of demonstrators take to the streets against Donald Trump's White House inauguration - say the walkout is also an act of protest against the gun violence plaguing the United States.

Those launching calls for action, many under the hashtag #Enough, are urging measures including expanding the background check system and curbing sales of assault-style rifles.

"Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school," wrote organisers on their website.

"We are not safe at school. We are not safe in our cities and towns. Congress must take meaningful action to keep us safe and pass federal gun reform legislation that address the public health crisis of gun violence."

The #Enough movement has also voiced resolute opposition to arming school staff members as a means of defense against future shootings.

Some staunch defenders of gun access floated that proposition in the wake of the Florida bloodbath - and just last week the southeastern state's governor signed into law a measure that would pave the way for such a system.

Meanwhile, both the White House and Congress have shied away from putting forth major reforms on gun sales.

Donald Trump had momentarily signaled support for increasing restrictions, but now stands accused of bowing to the US gun lobby: a new policy statement emphasising the US president's motion to arm school personnel would make "sure our schools are safe and secure, just like our airports, stadiums and government buildings."

It did not, however, mention new federal purchasing age limits or expanding firearms vetting.

The US has seen a spate of fatal school shootings in recent years, posing a threat to students of all ages.

Some parents and teachers have said protesting around the sensitive issue could be particularly traumatic for America's youngest.

To prepare for Wednesday's planned walkout, organisers therefore fostered debate among students of various ages to discuss forms of expression like rallies and posters, as well as slogans.

Some schools have also raised the issue of allowing students to leave their high school campuses even if parents grant permission.

One Texas district warned that school authorities would slap any student who walked out with a three-day suspension.

"We will discipline no matter if it is one, fifty, or five hundred students involved," said the Needville schools superintendent in a statement widely published on US media. "A school is a place to learn and grow educationally, emotionally and morally."

"A disruption of the school will not be tolerated."

Sarah Hinger of the American Civil Liberties Union - an organisation working to protect constitutional rights including the right to free speech - called that stance a "disservice."

"A disciplinary response is a disservice to young people and a missed educational opportunity," she said.</s>New York: Students walked out of classrooms across the United States on Wednesday, waving signs and chanting their demands for tighter gun safety laws, joining a movement spearheaded by survivors of the deadly shooting spree at a Florida high school last month.

The #ENOUGH National School Walkout began at 10am with 17-minute walkouts planned at 10am local time in western time zones, commemorating the 17 students and staff killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14.

Some students got in an early start. At Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York City, crowds of students poured into the streets of Manhattan, many dressed in orange, the color of the gun-control movement.

"Thoughts and prayers are not enough," read one sign, needling the rote response many lawmakers make after mass shootings.

In Parkland, students slowly filed onto the Stoneman Douglas school football field as law enforcement officers looked on.</s>The art was created as part of the "Parkland 17" gallery honoring the victims of the mass shooting in Parkland, FL.

The art was created as part of the "Parkland 17" gallery honoring the victims of the mass shooting in Parkland, FL.

A memorial consisting of 7,000 pairs of shoes littered the southeast lawn of the capitol.

A memorial consisting of 7,000 pairs of shoes littered the southeast lawn of the capitol.

Civic organization lays out 7,000 pairs of shoes - one for each child killed by gun violence since the 2012 Newtown school massacre (Source: Leah Grace)

Civic organization lays out 7,000 pairs of shoes - one for each child killed by gun violence since the 2012 Newtown school massacre (Source: Leah Grace)

This Georgia middle school found a unique way to honor the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting.

This Georgia middle school found a unique way to honor the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting.

One month after the Florida shooting, students walk out to honor the dead and protest gun violence.

One month after the Florida shooting, students walk out to honor the dead and protest gun violence.

One month after the Florida shooting, students walk out to honor the dead and protest gun violence. (Source: KTVI/CNN)

One month after the Florida shooting, students walk out to honor the dead and protest gun violence. (Source: KTVI/CNN)

One month after the Florida shooting, students walk out to honor the dead and protest gun violence. (Source: KTVI/CNN)

One month after the Florida shooting, students walk out to honor the dead and protest gun violence. (Source: KTVI/CNN)

National School Walkout: Taking it to the streets (and the playgrounds)

National School Walkout: Taking it to the streets (and the playgrounds)

The 16-year-old says he hopes the U.S. enacts stricter gun laws or places someone in schools to protect students.

The 16-year-old says he hopes the U.S. enacts stricter gun laws or places someone in schools to protect students.

While students across the nation walked out of school amid the national gun control debate, the 19-year-old accused of killing 17 people and wounding more in the Florida school shooting sat in court silently, his head bowed.

While students across the nation walked out of school amid the national gun control debate, the 19-year-old accused of killing 17 people and wounding more in the Florida school shooting sat in court silently, his head bowed.

(Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool). Nikolas Cruz is lead into the courtroom before being arraigned at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Cruz is accused of opening fire at Marj...

(Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool). Nikolas Cruz is lead into the courtroom before being arraigned at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Cruz is accused of opening fire at Marj...

(Stephanie Strasburg/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP). Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School students Ian Aiken, left, 14, of West End and Aiden Magley, 15, of Point Breeze stand for a photo with #NeverAgain written in marker on their arms.

(Sholten Singer /The Herald-Dispatch via AP). Students at Huntington High School participate in an organized walk-out protest joining students across the nation to raise awareness about gun violence in schools on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.

(Sholten Singer /The Herald-Dispatch via AP). Students at Huntington High School participate in an organized walk-out protest joining students across the nation to raise awareness about gun violence in schools on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.

(AP Photo/Manuel Valdes). Students at Roosevelt High School take part in a protest against gun violence Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Seattle.

They bowed their heads in honor of the dead. They carried signs with messages like "Never again" and "Am I next?" They railed against the National Rifle Association and the politicians who support it.

And over and over, they repeated the message: Enough is enough.

In a wave of protests one historian called the largest of its kind in American history, tens of thousands of students walked out of their classrooms Wednesday to demand action on gun violence and school safety.

The demonstrations extended from Maine to Hawaii as students joined the youth-led surge of activism set off by the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

"We're sick of it," said Maxwell Nardi, a senior at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico, Virginia, just outside Richmond. "We're going to keep fighting, and we're not going to stop until Congress finally makes resolute changes."

Students around the nation left class at 10 a.m. local time for at least 17 minutes - one minute for each of the dead in the Florida shooting. Some led marches or rallied on football fields, while others gathered in school gyms or took a knee in the hallway.

At some schools, hundreds of students poured out. At others, just one or two walked out in defiance of administrators.

They lamented that too many young people have died and that they're tired of going to school afraid they will be killed.

"Enough is enough. People are done with being shot," said Iris Fosse-Ober, 18, a senior at Washburn High School in Minneapolis.

Some issued specific demands for lawmakers, including mandatory background checks for all gun sales and a ban on assault weapons like the one used in the Florida bloodbath.

While administrators and teachers at some schools applauded students for taking a stand - and some joined them - others threatened punishment for missing class.

As the demonstrations unfolded, the NRA responded by posting a photo on Twitter of a black rifle emblazoned with an American flag. The caption: "I'll control my own guns, thank you."

The protests took place at schools from the elementary level through college, including some that have witnessed their own mass shootings: About 300 students gathered on a soccer field at Colorado's Columbine High, while students who survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack in 2012 marched out of Newtown High School in Connecticut.

In the nation's capital, more than 2,000 high-school age protesters observed 17 minutes of silence while sitting on the ground with their backs turned to the White House. President Donald Trump was out of town.

The students carried signs with messages such as "Our Blood/Your Hands" and "Never Again" and chanted slogans against the NRA.

In New York City, they chanted, "Enough is enough!" In Salt Lake City, the signs read, "Protect kids not guns," ''Fear has no place in school" and "Am I next?"

At Eagle Rock High in Los Angeles, teenagers took a moment of silence as they gathered around a circle of 17 chairs labeled with the names of the Florida victims.

Stoneman Douglas High senior David Hogg, who has emerged as one of the leading student activists, livestreamed the walkout at the tragedy-stricken school on his YouTube channel. He said students couldn't be expected to stay in class while there was work to do to prevent gun violence.

"Every one of these individuals could have died that day. I could have died that day," he said.

In joining the protests, the students followed the example set by many of the survivors of the Florida shooting, who have become gun-control activists, leading rallies, lobbying legislators and giving TV interviews. Their efforts helped spur passage last week of a Florida law curbing access to assault rifles by young people.

Another protest against gun violence is scheduled in Washington on March 24, with organizers saying it is expected to draw hundreds of thousands.

But whether the students can make a difference on Capitol Hill remains to be seen.

Congress has shown little inclination to defy the powerful NRA and tighten gun laws, and Trump backed away from his initial support for raising the minimum age for buying an assault rifle to 21.

A spokeswoman for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, newly appointed head of a federal panel on school safety, said DeVos "gives a lot credit to the students who are raising their voices and demanding change," and "their input will be valuable."

David Farber, a history professor at the University of Kansas who has studied social change movements, said it is too soon to know what effect the protests will have. But he said Wednesday's walkouts were without a doubt the largest protest led by high school students in the history of the U.S.

"Young people are that social media generation, and it's easy to mobilize them in a way that it probably hadn't been even 10 years ago," Farber said.

Wednesday's coordinated protests were organized by Empower, the youth wing of the Women's March, which brought thousands to Washington last year.

At Aztec High School in a rural, gun-friendly part of New Mexico where many enjoy hunting and shooting, students avoided gun politics and opted for a ceremony honoring students killed in shootings - including two who died in a December attack at Aztec.

"Our kids sit on both ends of the spectrum, and we have a diverse community when it comes to gun rights and gun control," Principal Warman Hall said.

In Brimfield, Ohio, 12-year-old Olivia Shane, an avid competitive trap shooter who has owned her own guns since she was about 7, skipped the gun protest and memorial held at her school.

"People want to take away our guns and it's a Second Amendment right of ours," she said. "If they want to take away our Second Amendment right, why can't we take away their amendment of freedom of speech?"

About 10 students left Ohio's West Liberty-Salem High School - which witnessed a shooting last year - despite a warning they could face detention or more serious discipline.

Police in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta patrolled Kell High, where students were threatened with unspecified consequences if they participated. Three students walked out anyway.

The walkouts drew support from companies such as media conglomerate Viacom, which paused programming on MTV, BET, Nickelodeon and its other networks for 17 minutes during the walkouts.

Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Maria Danilova in Washington; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Kantele Franko in Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Drew in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Mike Householder in Detroit; Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia; Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston; Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Krysta Fauria in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Find all of AP's coverage on the walkouts and the Parkland, Florida, shooting at https://apnews.com/tag/Floridaschoolshooting

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Students from Douglas Freeman High School walk out of school to participate in a gun violence protest Source: Steve Helber via AP

STUDENTS ACROSS THE United States have walked out of classes today in a nationwide call for action against gun violence following the shooting deaths last month at a Florida high school.

Hundreds of students from Washington area schools gathered outside the White House chanting “Never again!” and “Enough is enough!” and holding signs reading “Protect People Not Guns”.

At 10am, students in numerous cities held a moment of silence to honour the 14 students and three adult staff killed on Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Students bring posters along to a protest in Jersey City, New Jersey Source: Julio Cortez via AP

The “National School Walkout” was intended to last for 17 minutes, one for each victim.

But it quickly became apparent that many students at schools on the East Coast decided not to go to classes at all and to demonstrate instead.

The nationwide protest is being held one month to the day after Nikolas Cruz, a troubled 19-year-old former student at Stoneman Douglas, unleashed a hail of gunfire on his former classmates.

Students from Miami County Day School walk out of their school to protest gun violence Source: Marta Lavandier via AP

The event to honour those slain at Stoneman Douglas is also an act of protest against the firearms violence plaguing the US, which has more than 30,000 gun-related deaths annually.

Organisers come from the same group behind the Women’s March, which saw millions of demonstrators take to the streets in cities across the country in January 2017 to protest Donald Trump’s White House inauguration.

Trump had momentarily signalled support for increasing restrictions on guns, but now stands accused of bowing to the powerful US gun lobby.

Read: Florida brings in new law to restrict gun access, NRA immediately launches legal bid to block it

More: Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz formally charged with 17 counts of murder</s>More than 30 students, faculty and community residents participated in the “Enough: National School Walkout” Wednesday morning.

The crowd gathered at the Bell Tower at 10 a.m. for 17 minutes to remember the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and to protest gun violence in schools.

The walkout took place exactly one month after the Parkland school shooting where a former student killed 17 students and faculty on Feb. 14. It is one of the deadliest school shootings since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead.

Philadelphia Students Demand Action, a Philadelphia-based grassroots organization created after the Parkland school shooting, organized the walkout at Temple.

Philadelphia high school students also participated in the national walkout, which was organized by the Women’s March Youth Empower to protest Congress’ inaction toward gun control reform, according to its website.

3,100 schools said its students and faculty would participate in the walkout on Wednesday, NBC reported.

“We are here today to bring awareness to the fact that everyday lives are lost to gun violence, and that it’s time for us to do something,” said Christen Rexing, a professor in the College of Public Health. “We want to ride the momentum that the students started in Florida and make it a Pennsylvania issue and a national issue.”

Temple’s Harrisburg Campus announced on Twitter that it would be “symbolically closed” from 10 a.m. to 10:17 a.m. to recognize those participating in Wednesday’s protest.

Earlier this month, Temple announced that prospective students’ participation in peaceful protests, like the national walkout, will not affect their admission to the university. Some high school students faced disciplinary action if they chose to participate in these protests.

Students, faculty, and community residents expressed their concerns with the national government’s response to school shootings and gun control.

“By participating in the walkout, this is the first thing we can do to making a change with gun control,” said Gaby Combs, a junior public health major. “It’s ridiculous, and to see the government not do anything, they’re complacent and have blood on their hands.”

Keith Wert, a former New Jersey teacher and resident of Gloucester County, New Jersey, drove to Temple from his home to show his support.

“I hope that this is the beginning of a movement,” Wert said. “As a father, I could never imagine my kids being in a situation like the [Parkland] shooting.”

“I feel very strongly about this,” he added. “I’m here to support these kids, and put the pressure on people to do something about this. I hope the young people, with all their energy, keep at it and keep pushing because this is just ridiculous to the point of being absurd.”

Peter Ditzler, a freshman film and media arts major, said he hopes the government can start introducing legislation to increase background checks and implement age restrictions for buying semiautomatic rifles like an AR-15 rifle, which was used by the gunman in Parkland.

“I’m here to take action against the epidemic of gun violence in this country,” Ditzler said. “Everytime I see a headline about a mass shooting, it breaks my heart, especially when it comes down to school kids, like the Sandy Hook shooting.”</s>Students in Southwest Florida will participate in a nationwide walkout on Wednesday to raise awareness about safety in schools.

In some school districts, students who choose to walk out for the 17-minute protest could be punished for participating.

WINK News reporter Jessica Alpern visited several high schools to discuss the walkout with students. Watch the full segment above.

From Maine to Hawaii, students planned to walk out of school Wednesday to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last month’s massacre of 17 people at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In nearly 3,000 protests nationwide, students from the elementary to college level are taking up the call in a variety of ways. Some planned roadside rallies to honor shooting victims and protest violence. Others were to hold demonstrations in school gyms or on football fields. In Massachusetts and Georgia and Ohio, students said they’ll head to the statehouse to lobby for new gun regulations.

The coordinated walkouts were loosely organized by Empower, the youth wing of the Women’s March, which brought thousands to Washington, D.C., last year. The group urged students to leave class at 10 a.m. local time for 17 minutes — one minute for each victim in the Florida shooting — and suggested demands for lawmakers, including an assault weapons ban and mandatory background checks for all gun sales.

“Our elected officials must do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to this violence,” the group said on its website.

But each community was urged to shape its own protests, and while parents and teachers in many districts worked together to organize age-appropriate activities, school administrators had mixed reactions. Some have applauded students for taking a stand, while others threatened discipline.

Districts in Sayreville, New Jersey, and Maryland’s Harford County drew criticism this week when they said students could face punishment for leaving class. In Pensacola, Florida, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas ordered students to hold an in-school assembly instead, telling them they could discuss voting and mental health issues, but not guns, and saying that political banners would not be allowed.

“You can’t make political statements, it can’t be a pro-gun or anti-gun assembly,” Thomas told the Pensacola News-Journal.

The American Civil Liberties Union issued advice for students, saying schools can’t legally punish them more harshly because of the political nature of their message. In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Texas, some lawyers said they will provide free legal help to students who are punished. The ACLU of Georgia’s guidance letters to districts said “The United States Supreme Court has long held that students do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate’.”

This nationwide action is one of several protests planned for coming weeks. The March for Our Lives rally for school safety is expected to draw hundreds of thousands to the nation’s capital on March 24, its organizers said. And another round of school walkouts is planned for April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado.

After the walkout Wednesday, some students in Massachusetts say they plan to rally outside the Springfield headquarters of Smith & Wesson, where students and religious leaders are expected to call on the gun maker to help reduce gun violence.

At Case Elementary School in Akron, Ohio, a group of fifth-graders organized a walkout with the help of teachers after seeing parallels in a video they watched about youth marches for civil rights in 1963. Case instructors said 150 or more students will line a sidewalk along a nearby road, carrying posters with the names of Parkland victims.

The walkouts have drawn support from companies including media conglomerate Viacom, which said it will pause programming on MTV, BET and all its other networks for 17 minutes during the walkouts, and allow students to temporarily take over MTV’s social media accounts.

In suburban Atlanta, one of Georgia’s largest school systems announced that students who participate might face unspecified consequences.

But some vowed to walk out anyway, understanding that accepting punishments is part of what can make civil disobedience powerful.

“Change never happens without backlash,” said Kara Litwin, a senior at Pope High School in the Cobb County School District.

The possibility of being suspended “is overwhelming, and I understand that it’s scary for a lot of students,” said Lian Kleinman, a junior at Pope High. “For me personally this is something I believe in, this is something I will go to the ends of the Earth for.”

Other schools sought a middle ground, offering “teach-ins” or group discussions on gun violence and working to keep things safe. Officials at Boston Public Schools said they arranged a day of observance Wednesday with a variety of activities “to provide healthy and safe opportunities for students to express their views, feelings and concerns.” Students who don’t want to participate could bring a note from a parent to opt out.

Associated Press writers Jeff Martin in Atlanta and Kantele Franko in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report. Follow Binkley on Twitter at @cbinkley
Students throughout the United States participate in a walkout protest against gun violence.