Approximately two-thousand students from Bellingham's four high schools poured out of their classrooms and into the streets, Wednesday.
They are taking it upon themselves to do what their parents haven't been able to do -- end the violence in America's schools.
"No matter what, something needs to change," said Bellingham High School student Kamryn Clark. "If these deaths continue everything will just get worse."
Theirs is the first generation to have grown up with school shootings as a common occurrence.
"People are afraid," said sophomore Milan Gauthier. "We need to start a message about how to make this a better place."
Fed up and afraid for their children's lives, parents joined the protest.
Nine-year-old Liam Dooley stood dressed in a makeshift bulletproof vest with a sign reading, "This Isn't A School Uniform."
"Are you supposed to wear this to school? No! They need to fix this," he said.
His mother, Kristen said, "If our legislators were having their kids shot at school they'd do something about this, but they're not. They're in private schools with guards. Ours are sitting ducks."
The demonstrators gathered outside Bellingham City Hall where several students gave impassioned speeches.
"How can schools be safe in an America that cares more about the right to own a gun than the right for students and teachers to live?" asked one student who identified himself as a gun owner.
Among those in the crowd decrying mass shootings was a young woman who actually survived one. Maggie Davis-Bower was at the Burlington Macy's a year and a half ago when a shooter there killed five. That experience, combined with the Parkland school shooting, inspired her to organize Wednesday's event. She felt it was time to do something big.
"Those politicians want us to feel small," she said. "They want us to feel like we can't stand up for ourselves. It's our job to change that."
