WASHINGTON (WSVN) — Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Parkland students and parents, along with a host of gun control advocates all showed up on Capitol Hill, Thursday, calling for changes to gun laws.
The group showed up with demands for representatives in Washington, D.C. ahead of the March For Our Lives on Saturday.
“We need our federal government to recognize that these military killing machines have no place in America’s neighborhoods, in our streets or in our schools,” said Rundle.
The young survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School said the #NeverAgain movement is not just about them.
“I was just at Thurgood Marshall High School here in Washington, D.C. They’ve had multiple students die as a result of gun violence,” said Stoneman Douglas student David Hogg. “Both have the same thing in common as the Parkland students and everyone else affected by gun violence — and that’s the fact that it was a gun that took the lives of their loved ones. It’s the fact that regardless of your race, regardless of your religion, regardless of where you come from, we are all human.”
“I lost two people in my class that day, and six people were hit,” said Stoneman Douglas student Aalayah Eastmond. “I was on the wrong side of the class, and no student should have to cover themselves with a deceased classmate to survive, but I was that student.”
The young activists said this isn’t about trampling on the rights of gun owners.
“This is not trying to take your guns — we’re trying to take back our lives,” sad Hogg. “Just as much as you have a right to own a weapon — we have the right to liberty, we have the right to peace, and we have the right to live and not be afraid when we go to schools that we’re gonna be shot.”
The students said it’s about getting those in office to put politics aside to do the right thing before it’s too late.
“It’s not a Democrat problem; it’s not a Republican problem,” said Hogg. “It’s an American problem that we need to face as such. It’s disgusting.”
More Stoneman Douglas students arrived in D.C. Thursday night ahead of Saturday’s march.
“It’s just so elevating, you know, all of this energy that’s going on,” said Stoneman Douglas student Daniella Ellison. “It’s amazing what we’ve accomplished.”
“The kids, I think one of the things that they’re beginning to really realize [is] that they are writing a new page in history,” said Stoneman Douglas geography teacher Gregory Pittman. “They’re beginning to realize they are making history.”
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