Turn on, tune in, walk out. From Columbine to Parkland, students from thousands of schools across the country took off the kid gloves, busted out of class, and participated in a nationwide walkout to take a stand against gun violence and demand changes to America’s laws. Walkouts included 17 minutes of silence, 17 seconds of kneeling, or 17 empty chairs to honor the victims of the school shooting in Florida that killed 17 victims — and ignited a teen movement. Here are live updates from CNN and Buzzfeed. And here some photos from around the country. These are inspiring walkouts. But they’re just babysteps in what promises to be a long slog towards political change.

+ Step one is allowing researchers to actually study the issue. Why Studying Gun Violence Matters (and how the NRA and Congress stopped the studies). “22 years and more than 600,000 gunshot victims later, much of the federal government has largely abandoned efforts to learn why people shoot one another, or themselves, and what can be done to prevent gun violence.”

+ Sometimes reality plays a lot like a scripted series: AP: Teacher accidentally fires gun in California class, 3 hurt. “Dennis Alexander, who is also a reserve police officer, was pointing the gun at the ceiling to make sure it was not loaded when the weapon discharged.”

+ ‘In a head-spinning contradiction, famously liberal Massachusetts — with among the strictest gun-control laws and the lowest shooting-death rate — is the king of guns.” One Town Makes — and Hates — Guns Like No Other Place in the US.