Image byKalyn Belsha / The Chicago Reporter

The kids are walking out of school today to demand an end to mass shootings. Or at least an end to the ease with which the tools for which mass shootings can be obtained. They aren't looking for thoughts or prayers. They aren't impressed by people noting that cars or hammers or knives can be deadly, too, and they certainly aren't paying any attention to people telling them they're too young to understand politics. They walked out by the thousands across the country, at 10 AM in all the time zones.

Most of the walkouts were scheduled to last just 17 minutes, to remember the 17 people murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School one month ago today, but many walkouts are lasting longer. In Washington DC, students are gathering outside the White House and Congress. They're everywhere.

Kids marching at the US Capitol, by Emily Roller

As a prelude to the walkouts, protesters placed 7,000 pairs of shoes in front of the US Capitol yesterday to represent the approximately 7,000 kids killed by guns since Sandy Hook. Many of the shoes were donated by parents who lost kids to shootings.

Buzzfeed's Lissandra Villa said that after the display was taken down, the group that organized the protest will donate the shoes to homeless shelters.

For today's walkout, it wasn't only teens, either. Anyone worried that American schools are failing is going to have to have a talk with this 11-year-old who made a press kit for the walkout at her school in Alexandria, Virginia.

Kids at an alternative school in Chicago walked out, too.

Reporter Kalyn Belsha spoke to one of the students, Nicole Murdoch, who

said as the students were making their posters to honor loved ones killed by gun violence, one of the hardest parts was tracking down all the birth & death dates, because there were so many. She held up a sign honoring 10 CCA students who’ve been killed since 2013

It might be time to listen to the kids, huh?

Were some people jerks about it? Of course! Chicago Republicans filed a formal complaint after the Chicago Schools CEO Janice Jackson gave permission for kids to leave class without being punished, arguing that it was school sponsored liberal indoctrination. Even worse than science class!

In Pennsylvania's Council Rock school district, some enterprising administrators blocked exits in one school to prevent a walkout. Smart!

Atlanta's Booker T Washington High School said it would "severely punish" students who left the school, but eventually compromised and allowed the kids to take a knee in the hallways:

And this thread from our own Boise is stirring more than a little bit of hometown pride. Please do click through for the whole thing!

The spirit of the day was summed up best by a master of youth protest, who knows change is hard, and possible:

[CNN / Shareblue / Buzzfeed / top pic with permission of Kalyn Belsha, The Chicago Reporter]

Wonkette is driving from Montana to DC, and meeting up with you along the way, for the #teens March For Our Lives. If you'd like, you can help us out with gas! We love you almost as much as we love these damn kids.