WASHINGTON (WSVN) — Protesters across the country are holding rallies in an effort to get lawmakers to act after 17 people were killed in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Students and protesters also gathered in Washington D.C. to hold a demonstration in front of the White House, where dozens of teenage students spread their bodies on the pavement in front of the White House, symbolizing the 17 people killed in the shooting.
In a rally in Los Angeles, Sunday, the issue of reform to gun legislation and anger over continued gun violence also heated up.
People demonstrated in Chicago and Fort Lauderdale over the weekend. Many pointed a finger at the president and Republicans who control all three branches of government.
But Democratic Rep. Jim Himes said the issue crosses party lines.
“The problem is people like Marco Rubio and Speaker Ryan and, sad to say, most Republicans in Congress, and to be fair, a few Democrats,” Himes said. “They can’t allow the conversation to go to facts. Nobody wants to take away people’s guns. We just don’t want to be any different than Canada or Australia or Great Britain where you can get guns, you just get checked out. You can’t get weapons of war.”
South Florida congressman Carlos Curbelo said Paul Ryan wants to move on the issue.
“I’m not going to reveal all the details of our private conversation, but the speaker is interested in responding to these incidents,” Ryan said. “He knows that we have a lot of work to do, not only on the gun side of this issue, but also on mental health, also on making sure law enforcement is doing a better job.”
But on Friday, at a fundraiser at Key Biscayne, a teacher confronted him before being removed from the event.
Pictures were posted on a Twitter account called “persisters” along with a caption reading “Sorry we crashed your donor party, @speakerryan, but seriously … A party 48 hours after the #Parkland massacre? As the teacher you’re talking to in this photo said before your security guys had her and the scary pediatrician lady tossed, ‘No more guns!'”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump is willing to consider strengthening the federal gun background check system.
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