According to The Miami Herald, people showed up bearing homemade signs and placards that honored the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
They chanted and cheered and spoke of surviving a massacre that claimed 17 of their friends, teachers and loved ones.
Mostly, though, the crowd of more than 1,000 parents, children, grandparents, students, teachers and politicians who gathered at the Broward County Federal Courthouse at 1 p.m. Saturday for a rally focused on one thing: a desperate need for stricter gun laws.
State Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, argued that tightening security at public schools isn’t enough and called on Gov. Rick Scott to ban the sale of assault weapons. Pamela Goodman, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, told the crowd that their voice is their vote, and their vote is the future.
But the most emotional moments of the rousing two-hour rally belonged to the survivors — specifically the Douglas High School students who expressed their grief and great fury by imploring the public to vote in the upcoming November elections.
“We are going to be the kids you read about in textbooks,” said Emma Gonzalez, 18, a senior at Douglas High, her voice wavering between anger and tears. “Just like [the historic Supreme Court decision] Tinker V. Desmoines, we are going to change the law. That’s going to be Marjory Stoneman Douglas in that textbook, and it’s all going to be due to the tireless effort of the school board, the faculty members, the family members and most importantly, the students.”
In her electrifying speech, which has gone viral, Gonzalez called out the National Rifle Association, President Donald Trump and the neighbors and relatives of the gunman who knew about his erratic behavior but didn’t act on it.
Click here for full article on The Miami Herald
Source: Miami Herald
