Amid nationwide protests to call for gun rule reforms after a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, more than 100 survivors of the school attack marched into Florida’s capital and called for reforms to gun laws, improved care for the mentally ill and a ban on assault-type weapons mostly used in mass shootings.
The serious Florida statehouse was filled with demonstrators on Wednesday holding up signs, chanting slogans and bursting into lawmakers’ offices demanding to be heard. Their top agenda was to get assault-rifles banned given that the rifle Nikolas Cruz used to kill 17 people at the school was just taken off the table the day before.
Sentiments from the Protestors
Protestors complaining claimed that the response they got from lawmakers on the subject were not serious and declared that in future, they would not elect legislators whose campaigns are funded by the National Rifle Association (NRA). Delaney Tarr a senior at the shot up high school said they had spoken to a few legislators and the most they had received as a response was that they will be kept in their thoughts.
Delaney added that they have had enough of the thoughts and prayers from legislators accusing them of not caring because if they did, then they would have made changes to the gun laws a long time ago. On behalf of the protestors, Delaney notified lawmakers that they could no longer accept campaign funds from NRA.
While a crowd chanted “vote them out!” outside the Old State Capitol, 30 protestors went in to mount a sit-in protest at offices belonging to four House Republican leaders while demanding an audience with them. They demanded a conversation on gun legislation.
Protests and Appeals Elsewhere
Students and parents in Washington appealed to President Donald Trump to take action on policies that would render school safety and reform gun control. Trump’s current position is to back strong background checks for those wishing to acquire guns. He may have sounded baseless when he added that they were going to do plenty of things to curb gun violence and make schools safer.
On the same day, teenagers in at least a dozen schools walked out of their classrooms to protest gun violence and commemorate the 17 high school shooting victims. Megan Mui a young student walked for two and a half hours from her school to Stoneman Douglas high school to show her support for the changes they needed to avert such shootings.
