Published at https://www.eivnews.com/archives/7144
The survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre are making history by demanding gun reform and legitimate action from politicians in a way never seen before.
Although the concept of survivors coming together after a mass shooting and rallying for greater gun reform is not a new one (Moms Demand Action was created after the Sandy Hook shooting), the student’s use of social media and the fervor with which the survivors of the Florida shooting are tackling the issue is unprecedented.
“If kids aren’t even allowed to purchase their first drink of alcohol then how are we allowed to buy guns at the age of 18 or 19?” Lyliah Skinner, a 16-year-old survivor of the Parkland shooting, told CNN. “I feel like as our legislators and leaders, they shouldn’t be offering prayers and words, we need action.”
And Skinner is only one of many survivors who have expressed similar thoughts regarding the issue.
“[Politicians] say no laws could have prevented the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS. That us kids don’t know what we’re talking about, that we’re too young to understand how the government works. We call BS.” said Marjory Stoneman Douglas senior, Emma Gonzales, in a speech delivered at a rally in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. The speech has since gone viral.
Since delivering her passionate commentary on the state of American politics and its relationship to firearms, Gonzales has become the face of mass shootings survivors who call for greater gun control.
“We need to pay attention to the fact that this was not just a mental health issue,” she cried to the audience, “He would not have harmed that many students with a knife!”
The media attention that Gonzales and other students have garnered has led President Donald Trump to hold a “listening session” with some of the shooting survivors on Wednesday, according to The Los Angeles Times. And on March 24, Marjory Stoneman Douglas students will also lead a demonstration called “March for Our Lives.”
But not all survivors of the Parkland shooting are convinced that firearm regulation is the answer to America’s mass shooting epidemic.
“He’s just messed up,” said James Ciaramello, a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, of the shooter. “I mean, tighter gun control, it’s not gonna help. There’s always a way around it.”