ATLANTA — Students are demanding accountability and action on Tuesday -- holding a rally at the Georgia State Capitol with elected leaders about gun violence following the deadly Apalachee High School shooting last week.
The students are calling for stronger gun control in the state and for adults to step up and make a change. At the rally, the students say they will speak up every day until more is done to address gun safety in Georgia.
The kids didn't ask to be the face of gun violence in America.
"That is the number one killer of children and teens in this country, gun violence," said Ladeija Kimbrough, a student at Clark Atlanta University.
Kimbrough says it's time for adults to face the truth.
"The future of America is dying," she said. "This has just become the norm for children. They've never known anything different."
She's holding the faces of those killed at Apalachee High School close to her heart:
Their names joining the hundreds of victims killed by gun violence in Georgia each year.
"It's just sad that the world is going to miss that because he would have been such a great contributor," said Cynthia Duhart, who lost her nephew, Christian Harris, to gun violence in 2021.
Harris' death inspired Duhart to act.
"Instead of me sitting on the couch and saying, 'Oh, I'm so sorry. What can be done?' I am not that person, and I am now in the position of helping to make change," said Duhart.
They want to face the issue head-on.
"Demand the change you want to see. We don't just want prayers, we don't just want words, we want action," Kimbrough added.
Students at at least two area schools are planning to have walkouts next Thursday and Friday to protest gun violence in Georgia and demand stricter gun control.
