The deeper impact of gun violence in schools: 3 stories that inspired activism for Hoosier students

Meredith McClure, a senior at Burris Laboratory School in Muncie, has grown up in a time when active shooter drills are practiced at schools as routinely as tornado or fire drills. Along with her father, a teacher who is outspoken about gun violence, it inspired her to join Students Demand Action, an organization working to change that reality. 

“When you’re going into school and you’re told you have to hide in a dark room and be quiet, especially as a little kid who doesn’t know the world very well, it is very intimidating and scary,” she said.\

Students Demand Action and Moms Demand Action members dream of a world where students do not constantly have to brace for this kind of life-altering impact. This legislative session McClure made her second visit to the Indiana Statehouse with these groups. 

During her first visit, McClure said she spent time listening to real gun violence survivors and meeting with her legislator, Sen. Scott Alexander, R-Muncie, who explained his stance on gun violence.  

“Everyone’s been in school and has witnessed these lockdown drills and threats to their school. Having that experience makes you more likely to speak up and feel the urgency when it comes to gun laws and regulations,” said McClure. 

Students, moms and gun violence survivors crowded the Indiana Statehouse on Feb. 9 for “Advocacy Day.” During this time, Moms Demand Action (MDA) and Students Demand Action (SDA) joined together to urge legislatures to pass gun laws focused on secure gun storage—this despite seeing few results. 

Three bills to combat gun violence written this legislative session—which ended Friday—died early in the process. Senate bill 148 would have created an Indiana Crime Guns Task Force to fight against gun violence. Senate Bill 130 would have created a felony for anyone who failed to secure a firearm. A similar House Bill 1021 also died. 

Despite these outcomes, these organizations return to the Statehouse annually. Their priorities are honing in on tighter restrictions for keeping guns solely in the hands of rightfully permitted members of society, and secured from underaged children. 

Nora Preist, a North Central High School senior and president of her school’s SDA chapter, has a long streak of advocating for gun laws. In 2020, Priest and her mom began their campaign with Sen. Fady Qaddura, D-Indianapolis. 

“He made a promise since he started in 2020 to have some sort of bill about guns and gun regulations every year,” Priest said. “Unfortunately, none of them have passed.” 

Even after being disappointed, Priest, like the other SDA and MDA members, has kept showing up to fight for what she believes in. She continues leading her SDA chapter, scheduling monthly meetings, and writing letters to state senators. She also still works with Qaddora and attends his democracy fairs. 

“We do know that about 4.6 million kids in the U.S. live in a home that has an unsecured firearm,” said Moms Demand Action member and Hamilton County resident Marcia Molenda. 

Five years ago on Valentine’s Day, there was a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. A 19-year-old gunman named Nikolas Cruz opened fire, leading to the murder of 17 students and another 17 being injured. After hearing about this, Molenda felt the need to become more involved and to take more of a “hands-on action towards reducing gun violence.” 

“It was just one more. I finally said, ‘I need to become involved and feel like I am doing something to change the statistics,’” said Molenda.

On Advocacy Day, Molenda and the other members of the MDA spent time lobbying lawmakers for secure gun laws and other gun safety legislation. According to the NRA, Indiana currently does not require the registration of firearms and is a “permitless carry state.” Any citizen over 18 “may carry a concealed handgun in public.” 

“We need better background checks, and we need permits to carry guns. That kind of legislation is going to take a lot longer to work on, so right now, our focus is just secure firearm storage,” said Molenda. “Seventy-five percent of school shooters get their firearm from a family member or close friend. If we can reduce access to those firearms, we can reduce school gun violence.” 

Molenda also said the MDA’s goal is not, as some may assume, to take guns away from responsible owners. Rather, it is solely to keep them from those who are irresponsible with guns. This includes minors or those with a high risk of a mental health crisis. The MDA, consisting solely of volunteers, also includes gun owners and veterans. 

“We support the Second Amendment and think that anybody that can responsibly own a gun should be able to have a gun, but we also know that more than half of the gun owners in Indiana do not lock up their guns,” said Molenda. 

She said that the standard for safely locking up a gun would include three steps: It must be unloaded, it must be locked away securely, and the ammunition must be locked up in a separate place. 

“We need to start with where it begins. You can harden schools with better security measures, but it would be so easy just to begin at the very beginning and keep the access away from the people that shouldn’t have access in the first place,” said Molenda. 

Another MDA member, Mary Oser from Boone County, joined the organization for a more devastating reason. Oser is from Mineannapplis, where there was a shooting at Annunciation Catholic School this fall. The shooting took place just a block away from where she lived. 

“People I care about were running to make sure their kids were safe. I’m fortunate enough not to have that happen to me, but only by luck,” said Oser.

Oser’s empathy led her to the organization in order to reduce the number of people who have to experience shootings like this themselves. 

“It’s such a visceral feeling in the pit of your stomach, not knowing if your kids are safe. It’s such a primal thing we all feel as parents,” said Oser. “I can only emphathize to what that would feel like for parents. … Our core hope is hearing that your kids are OK.”

She said that two of the ways MDA hopes to see results is through tax incentives to help people afford to lock up their guns or even criminal prosecution for not doing so. 

Indiana public schools require at least one active shooter drill per semester, focusing on escape, lockdown and fight strategies. According to sandyhookpromise.org, more than 390,000 students in the U.S. have experienced gun violence since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. 

“The fight is not ever going to end,” said Priest. “The impact that gun violence has on people around us, that’s what keeps us pushing.”