Students across state plan to walk out of classes Wednesday over guns issue



TACOMA, Wash. -- Joshua Adamson says the path to change will be a rocky one but the Washington High School senior says the journey is important.

“I should worry about the test coming up in 5th period, what I am wearing for prom -- not am I going to get out of alive,” Adamson said.

It's an unbelievable question many students are now asking themselves.

“The fear is there, the tensions there,” Adamson said.

The Parkland, Florida, school shooting happened across the country, but the impact has been profound.

“Hearing the gunshots simultaneously while seeing kids crying -- there was a body on the ground and it was horrifying,” Adamson said.

Even if he tries, he can't unsee what he witnessed on social media.

Adamson is a student leader who is behind Washington High School's walkout planned for Wednesday morning.

“We are going to walk out to our track right over there where we are going to link arms,” Adamson said.

To remember the victims.

“It will last 17 minutes in memory of the 17 victims who died in Parkland,” Adamson said.

It's also a way to send a message to lawmakers.

“I would like to see the age for buying guns a little bit more,” Adamson said.

Adamson says he isn’t pushing for a ban on AR-15s but he wants the age to purchase one to go up.

Until then he says he is willing to disrupt his education so an AR-15 doesn't do it for him.

“Of course I view the other side, I see their opinion,” Adamson said.

He may not agree with the other side but he says he does respect them. That’s why he says students who don’t want to walk out shouldn’t feel pressured to.

But for those who agree, he says, Wednesday`s march is just the beginning.

“The students of America are coming up in the world and we are ready to get out of high school and ready to make a change,” Adamson said.

Schools across the country will be walking out of school at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Each district will handle the walkouts differently. For Franklin Pierce School District, they say in Washington High School’s case, students will be excused since they are staying on school property.