PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Hundreds of Portland Public School students are demanding their leaders to take action when it comes to gun violence by signing a petition that will be presented at a board meeting on Tuesday.
The two students leading the petition — Laurelhurst School eighth grader Naomi Basaca and Grant High School senior Jorge Sanchez-Bautista — told KOIN 6 News their fellow students are in constant fear at school, not knowing if the next school shooting will be in their classroom.
"Students feeling that anxiety of coming to school, having to think if something's going to happen, you know, if there's going to be a shooting or if someone's going to bring, like, a loaded gun to school," Sanchez-Bautista said.
Now, with the support from the Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety, they are demanding school leaders to take action not just for themselves, but also for future students.
“When I'm older and I have kids, I don't want my kids having to grow up in the same world that I did,” Sanchez-Bautista said. “And, you know, even though this problem isn't going to get resolved overnight, I want to make sure it's reduced."
"This is something that is dramatically affecting students,” Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety Executive Director Jess Marks said. “It's affecting their learning. It's affecting their ability to be present in the classroom when they've witnessed a shooting on the way to school, when they've heard about a shooting in the neighborhood."
