Dustin Hall and Haley Patnode stood at the edge of a crowd of students at the State House, each holding a corner of the American flag.
The Concord High students were among hundreds of high school students around the state – from places like ConVal Regional High School in Peterborough and Holderness School in Plymouth – to address gun violence on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting on Friday.
For Hall and Patnode, the event was a chance to show support for ending gun violence, but not through gun control.
“I’m here to help stop gun violence but to also bring more information to what the real problem is,” Hall said. “I believe the problem lies with children and the respect they have, and people in general, because nobody has respect for guns, or anything else.”
The small group of students counter-protesting the gun reform rally held signs and banners with messages like, “Come and take it” with the picture of a rifle, and bright yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” flags.
At times, they whooped to counteract cheers coming from the larger crowd nearby. But, when other students wearing “March For Our Lives” T-shirts approached, they spoke easily to each other with hardly a voice raised.
But for Patnode, the idea was never to compete with her peers. “We’re not here to judge sides, we don’t want to go against other people,” she said, wearing a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag as a cape.
Hall said he felt one of the problems with the debate on gun control was misinformation; if children were educated on the dangers and risks surrounding guns and how to properly use them – to see them as a tool, not a weapon – the problem would go away.
The Parkland, Fla. shooter Nikolas Cruz tried “to reach out to show he was suffering, and no one reached out, so that’s how he reacted,” Hall said, referring to warnings the FBI received about Cruz before he shot 17 people at Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14.
“I feel like if people were kinder to each other, we would come back to a more fulfilled society,” he said. “We don’t have that anymore.”
The majority of students at the rally – the third of its kind since Parkland – were there to argue the opposite position. Guns are too easy to obtain and threaten the lives of children at school, they said.
Students from Concord High and St. Paul’s School in the city marched to the event. Those from schools farther away took buses or drove.
Caitlyn Edwards, a Nashua High School North student, skipped class and drove alone – the only student from her school, she said.
“It’s just one day of school, so I’m not too worried about it,” she said, noting her parents gave her permission to participate. “They think it’s important for us to enforce change.”
Armed with a backpack, a few postcards and an orange sign that read “AM I NEXT?” Edwards was one of many students at the State House trying to make contact with their state representatives.
Some felt heard. Tilton School student Owen McCuin was part of a group that met with a staff member for Gov. Chris Sununu. He said they talked about mental illness, magazine sizes and who is able to get what kinds of guns.
It’s important for students to voice these concerns, McCuin said, “because we’re the target market. School shootings revolved around students, and we care because we’re nervous. We don’t know when it’s going to be us.”
Others were less successful getting their voice heard. Edwards left a postcard with Sen. Kevin Avard’s staff and, upon discovering that Sen. Bette Lasky’s door was closed, crept in to leave a note as well.
She wasn’t alone. “Do you think a postcard will make a difference?” she said to three Exeter High School students sporting orange shirts with the word “ENOUGH.”
“I hope so,” said Jack Anderson, looking around. He, along with classmates Jamie Beck and Ava Comeau, had set out to make contact with state Sen. William Gannon, as well as Sununu.
They were frustrated – Gannon and Sununu did not participate in a recent Exeter town hall on gun control, and the students weren’t able to get in direct contact with them Friday, either.
“It’s a work day for them, they’re supposed to be in their office,” Anderson said outside Sununu’s office. “We just feel like they’re ignoring us.”
Comeau said she was willing to compromise with her representatives, who she felt had different viewpoints on gun control than her, but conversation needed to happen first.
“It’s our country we’re going to inherit, and we have to make it a country we want to live in,” she said.
Gannon, who did not respond to request for comment, is a strong Second Amendment supporter, who “believes the right to bear arms is an essential constitutional freedom,” according to his website.
Sununu has said he believes any gun regulation conversation should happen at the federal level.
When news broke that another school shooting had occurred that morning – a student shot in the ankle at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla. – the group paused to reflect.
“It’s upsetting,” Anderson said. “The amount of kids this has happened to … it’s too much.”
Across town, nearly the entire Rundlett Middle School student body sat outside to have their own conversations about their desire to be safe in school.
Student speakers, who called themselves “17 Strong,” were just as diverse as their older peers. Kathryn Langille said it was her mission to help students accept their differences and limitations.
For her, that meant talking about her anxiety disorder. “People are ashamed of their differences and mistakes,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “I want people to not just accept their limitations, but embrace them. … You might just save a life.”
Cassie Pfitzenmayer, 13, spoke about Gina Montalto, a 14-year-old who was killed in the Parkland shooting. She’ll be turning 14 on May 11.
“However, everyday I wake up without the complete security that I will make it to that day,” she said.
“I want to feel like I can go to school, where I spend most of my day five days a week, and feel protected,” said Zakary Perkins.
Rundlett Middle School principal Jim McCollum said he “couldn’t be prouder” of his students. He said about 600 students attended the assembly on a day – right before April vacation – that typically sees a high rate of absenteeism. Students had the choice to not participate, but those were few, he said.
“They have a desire to be safe in school and they were eloquent in communicating that in a nonpolitical message,” he said.
He was also touched by the presence of state representatives who attended. “It tells kids that they matter,” he said.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, can drews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)