Students are turned away from the Senate president’s office. “Appointment only,” they’re told. pic.twitter.com/EujmTaoo0I
— Eliott C. McLaughlin (@ByEliott) February 21, 2018
In the days following the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, survivors have been leading a new charge against American gun violence with calls for legislative action from their government. Florida politicians have responded by declining to consider a motion on an assault-weapons ban and, instead, declaring that pornography is a public health risk. In another act of protest, high school students are walking out of classrooms across Florida, with some even protesting at the state capitol building. However several were turned away from the state Senate president’s office. “Appointments only,” they were told. Students did make appointments with other lawmakers.
A survivor's message to Congress: "We are too young to vote, but soon we will be able to vote, and we will vote you out." https://t.co/JGatlxDhae
— Meg Wagner (@megwagner) February 21, 2018
“I’m just trying to create a sense of empathy. Fortunately, they weren’t involved in a school shooting. But I was,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas sophomore Daniel Bishop told CNN. “I heard shots right outside my classroom. The gunman jiggled on my best friend’s door handle, and she could have died. And people I know died. My friends died.”
In the city of Weston, school officials and local law enforcement are marching in solidarity with the students, including those from at least one middle school. This NBC video shows the enormous crowd gathered in that city.
LIVE: Students in Weston, Florida, walk out of classes to protest gun violence in wake of the Parkland school shooting https://t.co/1VgyofG09R
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 21, 2018
Also in solidarity, students from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland have walked out and are taking public transportation to the U.S. Capitol while also marching in the streets, as seen below.
