When students walked out of school last week, it was not about student safety. It was about gun control. The political sponsors of the events knew the real purpose. Did the students? My daughter is in high school. Student safety is a real concern, but gun control is not a real solution. In America, guns will always be held by three groups: police, good people who claim the constitutional right to bear arms and bad people who will acquire them. If there are guns, there is a chance — a small one — that a bad person might enter one of our schools.

I am not a National Rifle member. The NRA bogeyman has nothing to do with my opinion. I base it on facts. If you are serious about student safety, you should focus on gangs; the risk is 100 times greater. According to NationalGangCenter.gov, more than 2,000 people per year die by gang violence, while fewer than 20 per year die in school shootings. Gangs are in Federal Way schools. They have killed Federal Way students. Those serious about student safety should march to eliminate gangs not guns.

Randy Nicholls, Federal Way