'Enough with the prayers.' Students march on Iowa Capitol to demand action on gun violence

With several saying thoughts and prayers aren’t enough, hundreds of Iowa high school students walked out of classes Monday, urging legislators to take concrete action to curb gun violence in schools after the shooting death of a Perry middle schooler last week.

Students from a dozen schools — including Iowa City, Pleasant Valley and several across Des Moines and its suburbs — walked out of class around noon to protest what organizers said is a lack of legislative action against gun violence by Gov. Kim Reynolds and state lawmakers.

Des Moines-area students packed the rotunda at the Capitol for more than an hour to rally as officials gathered for the first day of the 2024 Iowa legislative session.

The demonstration was organized by the Iowa chapter of March for Our Lives, a student-led organization favoring government policy to reduce gun violence that formed after the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead. The same group rallied after the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting in 2022, organizing a student walkout to the Capitol.

More: Perry High School shooter's parents say they had 'no inkling of horrible violence' he planned

Some students said they believed the shooting in Perry could have been prevented if officials had passed new gun safety laws in the wake of recent school-related shootings in Iowa.

“All we hear are more words and more empty sympathy and offerings of thoughts and prayers,” said Christopher Ramirez Chavez, a junior at East High School, as he stood outside the Capitol. “All talk and no action. Enough with the prayers. Enough with the inaction. It’s time for common-sense legislation.”

Police say Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old Perry student, shot and killed sixth-grader Ahmir Jolliff, 11, at the school building Jan. 4. Seven others were wounded in the shooting, including Principal Dan Marburger. Butler died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the school, authorities said.

The shooting, and Butler’s possible motive, remain under investigation, state Division of Criminal Investigation spokesperson Mitch Mortvedt said Monday. Butler's parents issued a statement Monday saying they had "no inkling he intended the horrible violence."

Reynolds addressed the Perry shooting at the Iowa Republicans’ annual legislative breakfast on Monday.

“Our hearts remain heavy with the unthinkable and senseless tragedy that unfolded last week at the Perry High School,” she said. “And we continue every day to keep the families of the victims and the Perry community in our prayers.”

She also said: “We’ll continue to work with the community to make sure that they have the whole of government behind them as we work through this heartbreaking time in our state’s history.”

Late Monday afternoon, Reynolds signed a disaster proclamation in an effort to aid the Perry Community School District and area residents in their recovery, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

The proclamation gives officials access to state resources, supplies and equipment, the release states.

Some lawmakers thank students, share personal stories of gun violence

Democratic lawmakers took the podium during the rally, to thank students for their activism and to share personal stories of gun violence.

Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, recalled when she was nearly kidnapped as a child by an armed man.

“Luckily, he fumbled his gun,” Srinivas said. “My friend Stephanie and I each ran to our separate homes. We were safe. We were lucky. We were some of the lucky few to escape what could have been a horrible tragedy because of guns.”

Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines, reminded rally attendees that community activists have been working to prevent gun violence for decades, and that the struggle is ongoing.

“A lot of us have been fighting this fight before some of you were even born,” he said. “A lot of us have been fighting this fight because we didn’t want you to go through what you’re going through now.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds is 'not protecting kids in schools,' students say

Students from East High, just blocks away from the Capitol, were the first to arrive. They gathered on the plaza outside the west entrance after marching from their school steps.

“We are walking out because we feel that our governor is not protecting kids in schools,” said East High School freshman Lucy Chiodo.

For many of the East students, the shooting at Perry High School brought back the fear and confusion left by the March 2022 shooting death of Jose Lopez, 15, outside their school and the January 2023 shooting deaths of alternative school students Rashad Carr, 16, and Gionni Dameron, 18.

After a moment of silence for Ahmir Jolliff, several East students gave speeches to implore state officials to take steps to curb gun violence in Iowa’s schools after the three deadly school-related shootings in the past two years.

Related: A history of Iowa school shootings

Students then headed inside, where leaders of March for Our Lives Iowa led a crowd of about 300 students, activists, lawmakers and supporters in chants of “no more silence, end gun violence” and “enough is enough” that echoed through the Iowa Capitol rotunda Monday afternoon.

Akshara Eswar, a co-executive director of the group, said Reynolds has not done anything to reduce gun violence in the wake of the previous school shootings in Des Moines at East High and the Starts Right Here alternative school.

“Tomorrow, Gov. Reynolds will give her Condition of the State speech in this Capitol where she will not do anything to help us and our fellow students around the state,” she said. “At what point do we say enough is enough? We cannot allow more people, more children, to lose their lives because of our legislators’ inaction. Their silence is deadly.”

Eswar, a Johnston High School student, said gun violence has become normalized, but she should not have to fear going to school.

“We cannot allow our lawmakers to continue to sit idly by while students not only across the country but across Iowa are dying,” she said. “We cannot let the lives of those we’ve lost be lost in vain. The time for requesting change is over. We demand change and we demand it now.”

Trey Jackson, legislative affairs director for March For Our Lives Iowa, called on Iowa lawmakers to pass new gun laws.

“Now it is time for our representatives to be held accountable for their actions. It is time to say enough is enough,” Jackson said. “We must pass extreme risk protection laws, we must close misdemeanor loopholes, we must mandate the reporting of lost or stolen firearms and we must stop the ghost guns fueling our underground gun market. We must put a stop to the gun violence in this state.”

Johnston High School senior Nick Bales remembers his mother educating him and his siblings on gun violence when they were young.

"I don't know why Republican people are so obsessed with keeping the gun laws as they are, when their children are also being affected by the violence caused by the things they love so much," said Bales, 18.

'I don’t want to be a hero,' says aspiring teacher

About 14 students walked out at Waukee’s Northwest High School and gathered out front for about 20 minutes, giving statements and impromptu speeches, before traveling to join the larger protest at the State Capitol in Des Moines.

Related: Iowa schools show solidarity with Perry High after school shooting leaves 11-year-old dead

Grace Fisher, a senior at Waukee Northwest, said thoughts and prayers have been offered after school shootings ever since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, but she said “we need to offer more” to stop future tragedies.

There were 108 people killed and 168 wounded in active shooter incidents at elementary and secondary schools across the U.S. between the years 2000 and 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Forty people were killed and 108 injured in school shootings in 2022, and 20 people killed and 42 people injured in school shootings in 2023, according to the publication Education Week.

Rachel Coon, a senior at Waukee Northwest who wants to be a teacher, recalled how Perry Principal Dan Marburger risked his own life to save students last week.

“I don’t want to be a hero. I want to teach,” she said.

“I don’t want to be remembered for dying for my students,” but for living for them, Coon said.

Outside Johnston High School, senior Slisa Johnson said he is tired of school shootings being ignored and swept under the rug.

"I know somebody that goes to (Perry High School), and he is a family friend, and his friend got shot in that shooting," Johnson said. "He would have been too if he wasn't late to school that day."

Related: Perry shooting looms large as Iowa lawmakers gavel in. Here are some of their priorities:

In Iowa City, nearly 100 students gathered at the Statue of Liberty outside Iowa City High School and began the nearly two-mile march toward Iowa Old Capitol just after 12:45 p.m.

As they walked, students chanted, “Hey, hey, NRA. How many kids have you killed today?” and made other calls to protect students and end gun violence.

City High senior Margalit Frank participated in a March for Our Lives in 2018, shortly after the shooting that killed 17 at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

“The fact that I’ve done this between sixth grade and my senior year and nothing has really changed is really upsetting,” Frank said. “But it’s important for young people to maintain hope and self-efficacy that if you do something, things will change.”

The Associated Press and reporters Phillip Sitter, Biong M. Biong and Ryan Hansen contributed to this story.

Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or svhernandez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @svhernandez or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Hundreds of Iowa students protest march to Capitol to demand