SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - An increase in gun violence and recent mass shootings across the country compelled a group of protesters to rally in front of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s South Florida office, calling on the Republican lawmaker to take action.
7News cameras captured demonstrators on Friday as they shood in the rain and held up signs outside Rubio’s Southwest Miami-Dade office.
“Vote him out!” they chanted.
Students, teachers, parents and activists were among those who took part in the rally.
Karla Hernandez-Mats, the president of United Teachers of Dade, expressed her disapproval with the senator’s gun reform record.
“We are demanding Marco Rubio to do his job. He needs to save our children, not people’s guns,” she said.
Protesters demanded that Rubio and other legislators pass gun safety reforms in the wake of several massacres that have struck the nation, including at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Gun violence has hit close to home for some of the demonstrators, including Romania Dukes, the founder of Mothers Fighting for Justice.
“My son, De’Michael Dukes died in my arms, so I know what all these mothers and families are feeling: the pain, the pain that don’t go away,” she said. “For the lawmakers, you are fathers and mothers yourselves. How dare you not have some compassion or do something when it comes down to all this slaying of our children. Shame on you.”
David Hogg, a survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, said he wants to meet with the senator and find common ground.
“Sen. Marco Rubio, my message to you is, please just meet with us. We just want to have a meeting and talk about how we can stop the next Parkland,” he said, “because this is unfortunately going to continue, and your messaging of more good guys with guns failed at my high school and it cost lives, and it failed in Texas, too, and it’s going to continue to cost lives until we address the fact that anybody is able to buy AR-15s.”
Mothers and activists also dropped off petitions from across the country to Rubio. They asked the senator to support gun safety legislation.
“We implored them to communicate with Sen. Rubio that the time to act is now,” said Maria Swanson, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action.
Rubio took to social media to respond to the calls for action, saying he has taken measures to address the issue.
On Thursday, he tweeted, “Many are finally realizing the 2 bills I have been working for 4 years are the best way to prevent mass shootings.”
The senator said the bills include creating “threat assessments to identify dangerous people” and “allowing police to intervene before threats lead to murder.”
However, those who protested outside Rubio’s office said he has failed them when it comes to gun reform.
“He did nothing. All he continues to do is to collect money from the [National Rifle Association] and forget about his constituents and about his community,” said Samantha Barrios, Florida state director for Giffords, a gun safety organization founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Giffords, who represented Arizona, was shot in the head at an event outside a Tucson grocery store in 2011.
During a televised speech Thursday night, President Joe Biden called on Congress to take action.
“How much more carnage are you willing to accept? How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say enough, enough?” he said.
A House panel has advanced a measure proposed by Democrats called the Protecting Our Kids Act. It would raise the age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. It would also ban high-capacity magazines and place limits on “ghost gun” kits and more.
Rubio is up for reelection this year. The primaries will take place Aug. 23.
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