UDY WOODRUFF: As we said at
the beginning of the program,
student-led rallies have picked

up a momentum of their own in
Florida and around the country,
in large part out of anger

over the easy availability
of assault-style weapons
and other kinds of guns.

There were rallies here
in Washington as well
today, in front of the
White House and another

near the Capitol.

Two students who took part
in the rallies after a school
from their changes walkout

join me now.

Camille Richter is a
senior at McLean High
School in McLean, Virginia.

And Jake Bennett
is a senior at H.B.

Woodlawn Secondary School
in Arlington, Virginia.

And thank you to both of
you for coming out here to
the studio to talk to us.

Jake, I'm going
to start with you.

You walked, you were just
telling me, something
like five miles from
your school all the way

to the White House today
from Arlington into D.C.

JAKE BENNETT, Student: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Why did you want
to be a part of this today?

JAKE BENNETT: Because we live
so close to D.C., we felt
that it wouldn't be the same

if we just walked outside, if
we just walked to a courthouse,
which is where our public

school headquarters are.

We felt driven to march to
the White House and to really
show that we would go this far

to voice our discontent and
our anger with Congress.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Camille,
why is this so important to you?

CAMILLE RICHTER, Student: You
know, I am sick of going to
school every day being scared

for my life and being scared
for my friends' lives.

We live in a relatively
safe part of Virginia - -
at least I do -- in McLean.

And it's silly that we live in
a First World country and still,
first graders, second graders,

like, young kids, all through
high schoolers are afraid of
going to school, and they're

afraid of what's going
to happen to them.

It's not right, and it
really needs to stop.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Jake, you were
saying that you feel strongly
that something has to be

done.

Do you have an idea right now
of what you think it should be?

JAKE BENNETT: I think that
universal background checks need
to be implemented to buy a gun.

And I think that we should
ban assault rifles again.

They were banned for 10 years,
and that really did work.

There's no need for
American civilians to
have a machine of war.

They're not used for
hunting or protection.

They're used for murder.

And I think that those are two
steps in the right direction.

Background checks are very fast.

They take two minutes, and
they would really save a
lot of lives, in my opinion.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And yet a
lot of people, as you know,
Camille, because we haven't had

that legislation since it was
allowed to expired, argue that
people should be allowed to buy

pretty much any kind
of gun they want.

CAMILLE RICHTER: Yes.

It's ridiculous.

Growing up -- we
live in Virginia.

We have a rule that you can
only buy one gun a month, which,
for us, in Virginia, people

have complained is too
restrictive for guns.

I have a lot of family
from Wisconsin, hunters.

I have been around
guns for a long time.

I know what it's like.

You shoot a gun, you
live in Virginia.

It's a pretty regular thing.

But there's a difference
between a hunting rifle
and an assault rifle.

There's a difference between
military-grade weaponry and
weaponry that could be perceived

as being part of American
culture with hunting.

It's just -- it's unnecessary.

It's blatantly unnecessary.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Jake, you
mentioned the assault weapons.

JAKE BENNETT: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And I know
one of the ideas that's being
discussed today is putting an

age limit on who can buy an
AR-15 or another assault weapon.

JAKE BENNETT: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Would
something like that, you
think, be acceptable?

JAKE BENNETT: I think that part
of that would be acceptable.

I think that an age limit
should be implemented, but other
restrictions should be added on

to it.

I really don't believe
that anyone needs an AR-15
or other assault weapon.

They don't serve any
purpose, except for massacre.

It's what the shooters out in
Sandy Hook in Newtown used and
Orlando and now at Stoneman

Douglas.

It's unnecessary.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Camille, there's
also been a proposal that
there be more guns in schools

to protect students, that
teachers or others be trained
and armed to protect students.

CAMILLE RICHTER: Yes, I
think it's just -- it's
expensive and unnecessary.

You know, how much money does
it cost to give every teacher
and potentially students the

training and the weaponry
that they need in order
to protect themselves?

It just -- it feels
like there is an easier
solution to the problem
that people and lawmakers

are kind of avoiding.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Jake, do you feel
like you're getting through?

I know you all were just
watching some of the discussion
inside the White House.

JAKE BENNETT: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: President
Trump invited students
and some parents who
have been through these

tragedies, and educators.

Do you feel like the message is
getting through to the people
who can make a difference?

JAKE BENNETT: The message is --
that the Florida students are
sending, you know, that we were

sending, what students
all across America
are sending, parents,
teachers, everyday people

are trying to send to Congress
and to the president are
that, you know, Congress needs

to stop saying yes to the NRA
and start saying yes to the
American children and to safety

in schools.

I think that's the message
that we were trying to send.

I think that what we did today
was set forward a motion that
will keep -- you know, it will

keep building momentum
until it does make a change.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What
about that, Camille?

Because there have been
school shootings before.

There have been protests before.

But it hasn't lasted or
there's been a little bit
of change, but not a change.

These things keep happening.

CAMILLE RICHTER: Right.

It's just we elected Congress
to be the representatives
of the people, not to
be the representatives

of big lobby firms
and of the NRA.

And it feels like, when
our legislature and
when our representatives
ignore the epidemic

of shootings that are going on
across the U.S., it makes you
wonder, who they are working

for?

You know, you want
to be represented.

You want your voice to be heard.

So...

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, you
know, some say, well,
these young people feel
strongly, but they're

just high school students.

CAMILLE RICHTER: Right.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How much
difference can they really make?

CAMILLE RICHTER: I think we
can make a huge difference.

There has been some talk
from some representatives
that, you know, the
high school students who

are making a stand in Florida
are plants by the FBI or
they're paid to do this.

And it's absolutely ridiculous.

Again, like we were saying
earlier, if you're 18, men
are old enough to be drafted.

At 16, at least in Virginia,
you can buy a car, which
is dangerous within itself.

Why can't -- why
can you buy a gun?

Well, it's just -- you
can do these things.

It just -- it
doesn't make sense.

We have a voice.

And we're clearly, you
know, able enough to use it.

You know, we know what
we're talking about,
to an extent, but...

JUDY WOODRUFF: Jake, do you
feel that you and your friends
are committed to stick with

this, with this issue?

JAKE BENNETT: Oh, absolutely.

We are committed to keep doing
whatever is necessary to effect
change, whether it's rallies,

you know, protests, whatever
it takes, really reaching
out to people online.

It's not going to be just
us that effects this change.

It's going to be high schoolers
all across America who does.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, I know
you have managed to get the
attention of a lot of people.

Jake Bennett, Camille
Richter, thank you both.

CAMILLE RICHTER: Thank you.

JAKE BENNETT: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And now we
get a teacher's perspective.

Mike Conrad says the issue of
school shootings has come up
repeatedly in his own classroom.

He teaches video production
at Royal Oak High School
outside Detroit, Michigan.

And he joins me now from there.

Mike Conrad, welcome
to the program.

You were able to listen
to these two students
we were speaking with.

What did you make of
what they had to say?

MIKE CONRAD, Teacher, Royal Oak
High School: Well, I applaud
them for everything they had

to say.

The students, not only Camille
and Jake, but the students
around the country, are taking

a stand.

And they're using
the right language.

They are using the
right vocabulary.

They are fed up.

And it's time for them
to help make change.

So I applaud the fact that
they went to the rally today.

I enjoyed hearing their
thoughts, and I agree with them.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You were
telling us that your own
students are speaking up.

What are they saying about
the shooting in Florida?

MIKE CONRAD: There's
a lot of discussion.

The discussion tone has changed
in the past couple of days.

Students are scared.

I can give you an example that,
daily, just a generic P.A.
announcement throughout the

school.

When that tone goes off,
the tension heightens.

And you hear a student gasp
or you hear a student say with
fear, oh, no, because they

don't know what the
announcement is going to say.

That shouldn't happen
in the classroom.

There are students who
are asking me how I'm
prepared to defend them
should a shooter come

into the school.

It's a difficult question to
answer, because I can talk
about all of our drills, all of

our lockdowns.

I can talk about everything
that we do as a school district
and what I do in terms of

my own knowledge, but,
at the end of the day,
how do you prepare
yourself for one of these

situations that
happened in Florida?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, what is
your thinking about teachers
being armed, teachers being

trained?

It came up just this
afternoon at the White House.

The president raised it with
the students and teachers and
parents who were -- he was

meeting with.

What do you think of that idea?

MIKE CONRAD: I think that
the moment that you put a gun
on the hip of a teacher in a

classroom, that we have
accepted the norm that school
shootings will not stop, that

we are now on the front line
to defend against them, instead
of trying to find a way to stop

them.

And I look at a classroom
as a safe environment.

And I never look at it, when
I say that to students or to
parents, that a safe environment

in a classroom means
defending against shootings.

What I look at, is it a place
where a student can talk to
me, where a student can bring

their problems to me?

When they know that one of
their friends might go home this
weekend and harm themselves,

and not come back on Monday,
and they come to me and tell
me that, I know that they trust

me that they can come and
say those things to me.

That's a safe environment.

The second I put a gun on
my hip, I don't think that
that relationship continues.

JUDY WOODRUFF: If it's not
arming teachers, then what are
some solutions, do you think?

What's the role that
teachers can play to keep
students safe and themselves?

MIKE CONRAD: Well, I
think some of it is
education and awareness.

I think that Camille and Jake
did a great job of explaining
some of the things that

have to happen prior to
the point where a shooter
ever walks into a school.

Teachers shouldn't
be a line of defense.

The point should never
get to the point where
they're asked to do so.

So, I think we, as teachers --
I teach high school students,
15-, 16-, 17-, 18-year-old

students.

I should be preparing them
to make those decisions
to go out and vote, to
call their legislators,

to march, should they want to.

But I think my job as a teacher
is to inspire and to educate,
and I think that's the best

thing that we can do at that
point in a classroom, not
make it a military zone.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mike Conrad
is a teacher at Royal Oak
High School near Detroit.

Thank you very much.