By Megan Brewer —
U of L’s neighbor duPont Manual High School participated in National Walkout Day honoring school shooting victims March 14.
Manual’s walkout raises the question of whether U of L should have a walkout or not.
Students, at any level, shouldn’t have to worry about a shooting while going to school.
U of L isn’t in the best location of the city, but students should still be able to feel safe while on campus.
A walkout would allow U of L to honor the victims of the recent school shootings, which I’m sure most students at U of L would want to do.
Having a walkout could also get the attention of school administration and state legislators to do more to prevent gun violence at U of L.
However, a walkout against gun violence on a campus with 22,000 students leaves an opening for something bad to happen.
It’s not something we want to think about or even want to say could happen, but in reality, it could.
A walkout could also be pointless, which it shouldn’t. I know the intention is to honor the victims, but after the walkout, we need to follow through.
One way is making sure U of L doesn’t allow anyone to carry firearms on campus. Now, I know this won’t stop someone from bringing a gun to campus, but it makes it less likely.
The best way to help students feel safe on campus is preparing them for the worst.
Following a walkout, we should do more to inform our peers about guns, what to do if there’s a shooter on campus and ways to protect ourselves.
Administration needs to do more to inform students on what to do and how to handle a situation involving an active shooter as well.
While a walkout would honor the victims of shootings, and maybe we should have one for that reason, we can be doing more than just that.
Maybe a walkout would be a start, but it can’t stop there. We have to keep informing each other, finding ways to have administration and policymakers focus more on gun violence and what to do in a given situation.
File Photo / The Louisville Cardinal