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Florida High School Students Protest For Gun Safety: "Enough Is Enough"

Natalie Gontcharova
February 16, 2018, 8:39 PM
Photo: RMV/REX/Shutterstock.
Over 30 students at South Broward High School in Hollywood, FL, took to the street to call for gun reform in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, 7 News Miami reported. South Broward is about an hour away from Stoneman Douglas.
They held signs that read "NRA is a terrorist organization" and "Protect me, not your machines of violence," and chanted "Ban assault rifles" and "No more silence, end the violence."
The message was clear: Most of them can't even vote — but they're tired of politicians who offer "thoughts and prayers" without making the tiniest effort to change gun legislation so that people with a history of domestic violence aren't able to buy murder weapons before they can buy beer.
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"We are absolutely amazed at how many people attended and by the news coverage we received," Laura Chmielewski, a 16-year-old junior who helped organize the protest, told Refinery29. "Our message is simple: We want to stop the gun violence."
Bottom line: Kids don't want to die in their schools. And they want politicians to know it.
Chmielewski tweeted a photo of a flyer for the protest, which read that students want their representatives to advocate for "extensive background checks and mental health evaluations before gun purchases," "elimination of the gun-show loophole," and stopping the NRA lobbying that lines Republican politicians' pockets while keeping their hands tied from doing anything about gun violence.
In one Twitter user's video of the protest, a student says into the camera, "We still have the right to bear arms, but not arms that fire 45 rounds a minute."
Some Twitter users who were driving by the protest said it made them emotional. "Has me crying driving by," wrote one 19-year-old.
"I just drove by South Broward High School and it brought me to tears because I have hope that OUR generation IS and WILL make a change," wrote another.
Others who were at the scene tweeted photos of students' signs and videos of the protest.
"We cannot be silent anymore" and "Enough is enough," students chanted in this video while cars driving by honked in approval.
Now, the Women's March is planning a school protest on a larger scale. The organization posted a call for a National School Walkout for 17 minutes on March 14 to honor the 17 victims from Stoneman Douglas. It will be held at 10 a.m. across every time zone.
"Congress must take meaningful action to keep us safe and pass federal gun reform legislation that [addresses] the public health crisis of gun violence. We want Congress to pay attention and take note: Many of us will vote this November and many others will join in 2020," says a statement from the Women's March.
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