Chihiro Miya
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivors attended CNN’s Town Hall meeting on Wednesday night in Florida.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel hosted the meeting where students, their parents and teachers demanded action on assault weapons.
Fourteen high school students and three teachers were shot by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz on Feb.14.
Cruz, who had been expelled due to disciplinary problems, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
Investigators said Cruz was legally able to purchase an assault rifle from a licensed gun dealer last year when he was 18.
They addressed gun control to U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch.
“I will support changing our background system so that it includes more information than it includes now and that all states across the country are required or incentivized to report all the information into it,” said Rubio.
Rubio also said he would support legislation banning bump stocks, a controversial modification that simulates rapid-fire on semi-automatic weapons.
“I know that the President has ordered the Attorney General to do it and if he doesn’t, we should do it by law.”
Loesch focused her anger on the shooter’s access to firearms.
“I don’t believe that this insane monster should have ever been able to obtain a firearm, ever. I do not think that he should have gotten his hands on any kind of weapon,” she said.
She added, “I think all innocent life should be protected. I don’t think that you should have ever had to have gone through that. If I could change time and change circumstances, I would have done everything in my power to prevent that.”
Here are all the times Marco Rubio was shut down at the CNN town hall on gun control https://t.co/XYpDN1a90n#StudentsStandUp
— VICE News (@vicenews) February 22, 2018
Meeting with President Trump
U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a listening meeting with the victims at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Trump said that he will be vigilant on background and mental health checks.
Samuel Zelf, a survivor of the fatal school shooting, said “I can’t feel comfortable in my country knowing that people have, will have, ever going to feel like this.”
“I don’t understand why I could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war.”
CNN announced that Trump supported armed teachers in schools.
However, he took to Twitter to clarify.
I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
Protest for gun control in Florida and Washington
Prior to the CNN Town Hall, thousands of teenaged students marched in Florida on Wednesday morning to protest the second deadliest public school shooting in U.S. history.
Today, thousands of students walked miles from their schools to Douglas. To every person who thinks this is fake: see you March 24th #neveragain#ParklandStudents#MarchForLifepic.twitter.com/2KR1x3ssSM
— Adam Alhanti (@AAlhanti) 2018年2月22日
In Washington, D.C., students also walked out of school to protest outside of the White House, demanding gun control legislation.
Protesters chanted slogans including, “This is what democracy looks like,” and, “Are we next?”