UNLV students participate in national walk-out

Students and faculty members watch on as a student organizers call for tougher guns laws in Las Vegas and abroad.
Speakers at the March For Our Lives event in Alumni Theater. Shot by Edgar Garcia
One month ago, the teenagers of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, lost 17 students and staff members that had been shot dead in the hallways of their school. March 13, UNLV students staged a walk-out as a part of a nationwide protest against gun violence. Under the watchful eye of UNLV police and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, students, organizers, student body officials, and speakers for elected government officials congregate in Pida Plaza to speak out against gun violence and urge those in the audience to register to vote, and be present at the polls in November.
“I think this walk-out is really important,” said Desiree Galvez, UNLV Women’s Studies student. “It shows that people really want change and want to gather together despite what background they have, despite what issues are really important to them. I think that because of national walk-out, this is something that is actually a priority now for the nation. It shows that people really want to see reform and legislation, but we also want to change the culture around gun violence in our community.”
Many students in Pida Plaza were not just protesting gun violence in relation to a mass shooting, but gun violence in any situation regardless of casualties. Micaah Daniels, an organizer for the event, participated despite her fears in order to find a solution for both sides of the argument.
“The reason that I am here today is because I know that growing up, there are a lot of my friends that were effected by gun violence inside the classroom or outside of it. I have had friends that have passed away due to gun violence” Daniels said. “I think about the positions that I have been put in where the gun violence is very plausible and it was just luck that I am even alive today. I think about what it means to be a leader and what it means to stand up for something in the face of adversity. So although I was very scared to be here today, I felt it was important to speak up for something that matters.”

One attendee at the walk-out, Cyrus Hojjaty, expressed his sympathy for those impacted by gun violence, but he believed the Second Amendment should be protected, no matter the situation.
“I understand their grievances, I understand where they’re coming from, but the thing is we have seen what gun control laws have done to certain cities and countries around the world,” Hojatty said. “You look at Paris, you look at Chicago, you look at California, they have all these gun control laws, and yet we have all these gun incidents that still go on. Some of these people support politicians that eventually strip our gun controls rights and they sell us out.”
Hojjaty said he would like the conversation to switch from gun control to prescription drug control.
“You have a lot of these people who are Democrats, I thought they were anti-corporations but they’re not fighting against the pharma-lobbies that are causing all these mental health issues,” Hojatty said. “We can’t blame everything on guns. You know how many people die when cars run over people? Did you see what happened in Charlottesville? People need to start asking these things.”
UNLV students holding signs in Alumni Theater after marching through campus on March 14, 2018. Shot by Bizuayehu Tesfaye.
The speakers at the walk-out also urged the attendees to make sure they are registered to vote and had people present to register them for the midterm elections in November 2018.

#unlv #marchforourlives #gunviolence

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