School Shooting Survivors Demand Stricter Gun Control at FL Capitol

Tallahassee, FL – Grieving students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School met with Florida legislators on Tuesday. They told their stories of last week’s shooting that left 17 dead. Then, they urged the politicians to pass gun-control measures. The students’ activism will continue Wednesday. Comments from Ashley Santoro, student, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

With heavy hearts, students-turned-citizen-lobbyists met with lawmakers on Tuesday with one goal – to urge the passage of gun control measures. Hoping their tragic stories will spur lawmakers to act, a small group of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students went door-to-door asking senators and representatives to put aside their partisan differences and act. However, a move to push a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines directly to the House floor was rejected. It was rejected on mostly party lines. Ashley Santoro, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, said she’s trying to cope but is saddened by the response at the Capitol.

House Bill 219 – which prohibits the sale, transfer or possession of large-capacity magazines and assault weapons including AR-15s – was rejected by a vote of 36 to 71 in the Republican-controlled House.

Busses of additional students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas are expected to arrive in Tallahassee Wednesday. Then, they will walk from the Leon County Civic Center to the Capitol to continue their advocacy. Trying to hold back tears, Santoro says it’s important for policymakers to listen.

Some Republican Senate leaders are preparing a bill that would limit assault-weapon sales to those 21 and older. It would also place a three-day waiting period on rifle purchases. But the measures fall short of the complete ban on the sale and transfer of assault weapons that is being advocated by Democrats and Douglas High students.