Survivors of Florida school shooting call for strict gun laws

People join together after a school shooting that killed 17 to protest against guns. Pic/Getty Images/AFP

Survivors of the mass shooting in a school in Florida, which claimed 17 lives, on Saturday rallied in Fort Lauderdale and called for tougher gun laws. According to the CNN, the survivors urged the voters to kick out lawmakers who oppose the move or who take money from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

One of the survivors, Emma Gonzalez, demanded the lawmakers to take steps to prevent mass school shootings. "We certainly do not understand why it should be harder to make plans with friends on weekends than to buy an automatic or semiautomatic weapon," Gonzalez, who huddled in an auditorium during Wednesday¿s, shooting, said at the rally outside a federal courthouse.

Along with Gonzalez, hundreds of people gathered and chanted, "Shame on you, Shame on you", against the lawmakers for not taking any substantial actions. "Politicians who sit in their gilded house and senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this, we call BS!" she said. The incident happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a town about 50km north of Fort Lauderdale, shortly before 3 pm as the school day was coming to a close on Wednesday. The shooting killed 17 and injured 15 others.

Nikolas Cruz, who was a former student and was expelled from the school for disciplinary reasons, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. On Thursday, the leader of a white supremacist group claimed that the 19-year-old was a member of his group and had participated in paramilitary drills.

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