Letter to the Editor: the purpose behind Shorewood High School's walkout

To the Editor:

My name is Kaitlyn Amundsen and I am here with my fellow classmate and friend, Dunya Al-Musawi to discuss the walkout that our school, Shorewood High School, is participating in on March 14th.

This Wednesday, students at both Shorewood and Shorecrest will be walking out at 10:00 am in solidarity with the victims of the Parkland shooting and in support of the Washington 5050 Senate bill.

The bill would ban the manufacturing and sale of assault weapons and large capacity magazines in the state of Washington. Students plan to stand in solidarity with the Parkland students for 17 minutes outside of their schools before marching to King County District Court.

On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz ambushed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, firing 180 shots at students and faculty. Using an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the fast rain of bullets Cruz was able to shoot killed 17 innocent lives and injured 14 more.

Senate Bill 5050 would amend current statute to ban the “manufacture, possession, distribution, import, transfer, sell, offer for sale, purchase, or otherwise transfer any assault weapon or large capacity magazine”.

The bill defines assault weapons, detachable magazine, large capacity magazine, and secure gun storage as well as outlines the exceptions to this ban. Additionally, the bill states that any person who violates this new law would be guilty of a class C felony.

By enacting Senate Bill 5050 into legislation we would be taking the next necessary step to ensure another mass shooting does not occur again.

Kaitlyn Amundsen
Dunya Al-Musawi
Shorewood High School, Shoreline