Student Activists Stump for Gun Control During Nationwide Protests
Outside the White House gates, hundreds of middle and high school students took the fight for gun control into their own hands on Wednesday. They made public pleas, staged sit-ins and demanded that President Donald Trump take action. Refusing to be silent, local students marched down the D.C. streets chanting “The NRA has got to go.”
One week after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 students and staff members, its survivors have become some of the loudest critics of Capitol Hill. Their voices have propelled students from across the nation to engage in the national conversation on gun action.
A chorus of solidarity rallies have occurred throughout the week from California to Florida. Students from multiple cities have staged walk-ins and rallies to voice frustration at the injustice they say is happening in legislature chambers.
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Many said they couldn’t wait until the national March for our Lives event scheduled for March 24. Instead, they have vowed to go full-steam ahead until gun violence is solved—and schools are safe.
Busloads of Parkland students, many of whom witnessed the deadly shooting, traveled 450 miles to Florida’s state capital on Tuesday to push state lawmakers for change.
“We elected you to do things that we believe in. Now we believe in something, do it,” said Stoneman Douglas sophomore Daniel Bishop on the bus ride to the Florida capital.
Their efforts were thwarted within a few hours on Tuesday night when Florida’s legislature rejected a ban on semiautomatic guns and large capacity magazines. Students were momentarily at a loss for words but quickly pushed together and refused to back down from efforts.
Survivors confronted lawmakers and charged, "Never again" and "Shame on you!" at the state capital on Wednesday. That same day, schools across south Florida staged walk-outs in solidarity, with some students walking to the site of last week’s deadly incident.
The Parkland students plan to meet elected officials on Wednesday, including Governor Rick Scott, who held a series of school safety workshops in Tallahassee on Tuesday to emphasize school emergency plans and an expansion of mental health services. Scott is expected to deliver a proposal on Friday that identifies issues from last week's school shooting and ways to prevent future occurrences.
A town hall CNN debate, "Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action," is being billed as an opportunity for students, parents and the Parkland community to take on elected officials, as well as the National Rifle Association (NRA) on national television Wednesday night.
Some Stoneman Douglas students intend to be at President Donald Trump’s “listening session” on Wednesday afternoon, where he was planning to meet survivors reeling from the tragedy. Trump plans to address gun laws and safety measures for schools, while advocating the steps as a priority for his administration.
“We must do more to protect our children,” Trump said Tuesday at the presentation of the Medal of Valor to 12 public safety officials.
A new national survey has also revealed that more Americans are in favor of stricter gun laws than ever before, according to the Quinnipiac University National Poll. In the aftermath of last week's mass shooting, it found that 66 percent of voters are in favor of stricter gun laws, compared to 31 percent against them.
Following the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history in Las Vegas last fall, several bills were introduced in the House and Senate, such as the bipartisan measure banning "bump stocks," which give semi-automatic weapons the capability to be fired as if they were fully automatic. It had remained stalled, but under pressure, Trump moved to issue regulations to the Justice Department on Tuesday.