Teen Survivors of Florida School Shooting Announce 'March For Our Lives' to Push for Gun Control
Five teenagers who survived Wednesday’s school shooting in Florida, which left 17 people dead, have announced that on March 24, there will be a march on Washington, D.C. to call for stricter gun laws.
Students David Hogg, Alex Wind, Cameron Kasky, Jacqueline Coren and Emma Gonzelez — who, earlier this weekend, made an impassioned speech at a rally in Fort Lauderdale where she shamed lawmakers for taking money from the NRA — detailed their plans for the “March For Our Lives” on Sunday.
“What we’re trying to do here ‘March For Our Lives’ is say, the adult politicians have been playing around while my generation has been losing our lives,” Kasky, an 11th grader at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, said on CBS’ Face the Nation.
“At the end of the day, this isn’t a red and blue thing. This isn’t Democrats or Republicans. This is about everybody and how we are begging for our lives,” he added. “We need to make real change here and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“From here on, we are creating a badge of shame for any politicians who are accepting money from the NRA. It is a special interest group that has most certainly not our best interests in mind,” Kasky continued.
“This cannot be normal. This can be changed and it will be changed. And anybody who tells you that it can’t, is buying into the facade of this being created by the people who have our blood on their hands,” he explained.
Wind added, “This is the first march. But I can guarantee it will not be the last. We will be marching for the 17 we lost at our school. We will be marching for everyone we lost at the Newtown Sandy Hook shooting, at Columbine, at Virginia Tech in San Bernardino, Orlando at the Pulse shooting and at Las Vegas. This is only the beginning.”
During an interview with ABC News’ This Week on Sunday, Gonzelez emphasized why taking part in the march was important for all students.
“The kids who need to take part in this are kids, everyday kids just like us,” she said. “All students should realize that a school shooting could happen anywhere.”
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The high school senior also added that she hoped to be able to have conversations about future legislation with President Donald Trump as well as Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Rick Scott, both of whom are Republicans.
“We want to give them the opportunity to be on the right side of this,” she said.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez reacts during her speech at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 17, 2018.
A student survivor of the Parkland school shooting called out US President Donald Trump on Saturday over his ties to the powerful National Rifle Association, in a poignant address to an anti-gun rally in Florida. “To every politician taking donations from the NRA, shame on you!” said Emma Gonzalez, assailing Trump over the multi-million-dollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby — and prompting the crowd to chant in turn: “Shame on you!”
/ AFP PHOTO / RHONA WISE (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)
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“People keep asking us, ‘What about the Stoneman Douglas shooting is going to be different, because this has happened before and change hasn’t come?’ ” Kasky remarked to ABC.
“This is it,” he added.
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“March For Our Lives” is taking place on March 24. For more information go to marchforourlives.com.
