Florida school shooting: Hundreds rally for stricter gun laws after massacre

Brittnie Rowan, left, listens to speakers while Shawn McAskill holds their son, Ethan McAskill, a 5-year-old kindergarten student, during a gun control rally in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. Students, community members, elected officials and gun control advocates gathered together to call for common sense gun laws and firearm safety legislation in the wake of the school shooting that left 17 people dead and 15 others injured this past Wednesday in Parkland, Fla.

Enough is enough. Never again. Change.

Hundreds of students, parents, activists, current and former teachers, local, state and federal officials echoed those messages during a gun control rally Saturday on the steps of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.

Anger, sadness and pain were channeled into calls for action: for stricter gun laws in the wake of one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.

The gathering, organized by state Sen. Gary Farmer, occurred just three days after a gunman fatally shot 17 people at a school in nearby Parkland.

The attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School reignited a public outcry for a ban on assault rifles like the one used in the massacre.

“The discussion of sensible gun safety laws has been absent and silenced in Tallahassee and in Washington, D.C., for far too long,” Farmer said, as the crowd, many carrying signs, erupted in cheers and applause.

“The rest of the world combined experiences a fraction of the types of mass shootings that we do here in America. That tells us that what we’re doing is wrong and needs to change.”

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Taylor Green, 19, from right, Victoria Mejia, 15, Ashley Laurent, 20, and Ashley Hernandez, 16, get emotional while listening to speeches during a gun control rally in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. Students, community members, elected officials and gun control advocates gathered together to call for common sense gun laws and firearm safety legislation in the wake of the school shooting that left 17 people dead and 15 others injured this past Wednesday in Parkland, Fla.

Local officials implored those in attendance to vote and call on their representatives to force gun control legislation to be heard.

Some of the most impassioned pleas Saturday came from those who had just survived the bloodbath.

“My innocence, our innocence has been taken from us,” said Delaney Tarr, a senior at the school. “I am 17, but in a matter of days I aged decades.”

Andrea Shawfiele, 10, looks up at her handmade sign during a gun control rally in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. Students, community members, elected officials and gun control advocates gathered together to call for common sense gun laws and firearm safety legislation in the wake of the school shooting that left 17 people dead and 15 others injured this past Wednesday in Parkland, Fla.

Tarr said the current state of gun laws allowed the shooting suspect to take her friends and classmates from her forever.

“I’ve had enough of thoughts and prayers, the hashtags, all of it. We need to make actual change,” she said. “This will not be forgotten. We will not be silenced. We want to make a change.”

Like many other speakers, Tarr’s classmate, Emma Gonzalez, blasted politicians who received donations from the National Rifle Association.

“To every politician who has taken donations from the NRA: Shame on you,” she said, through tears.

The crowd immediately followed with chants of "Shame on you."

Donna Biederman, bottom right, gets emotional while listening to speeches during a gun control rally in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. Students, community members, elected officials and gun control advocates gathered together to call for common sense gun laws and firearm safety legislation in the wake of the school shooting that left 17 people dead and 15 others injured this past Wednesday in Parkland, Fla.

In a similarly emotional appeal to elected officials, Melissa Falkowski, a teacher at the school, called out Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature, asking for stricter gun laws.

“You need to make us safer and you need to make our students safer,” she said, to loud cheers. “No one should be able to buy an AR-15. No one. Especially not an 18-year-old.”

Hundreds of students, community members, elected officials and gun control advocates gather for a gun control rally in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018.

The resolve and outspokenness of those who lived through the tragedy will separate the mass shooting at the school from previous massacres, said U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, whose district includes Parkland.

“Here’s the difference,” he told the crowd. “My friends here on this podium and all of you and all of the people around America have seen the strength, the courage and the conviction of the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas. They will not allow this debate to end. They are just getting started.”