It was a week ago, Valentine’s Day, when 17 Marjory Stoneman Douglas students where gunned down. The murders have sparked a political debate about gun issues. Here are some of the stories today. First, some of today’s events.
A town hall meeting is set for tonight by CNN. The meeting is being held at the BBT Center in Sunrise, Florida, at 9 PM. It will be broadcast LIVE.
CNN will present a nationally televised town hall meeting about the Parkland school shooting from the BB&T Center in Sunrise on Wednesday night.
“Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action” will air live starting at 9 p.m. from the arena at 1 Panther Parkway.
Moderated by CNN anchor Jake Tapper, it will feature students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, parents and community members affected by the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 students and faculty members dead.
The event is closed to the general public.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas students who traveled to Tallahassee, will be joined by scores of other students and supporters at a Noon rally on the Capital steps. This will likely be carried live by Miami area stations. It will be likely be LIVE on Facebook, too.
Today, Parkland students, teachers and parents will come together to rally in front of the Capitol in support of common sense gun safety reforms. In the wake of the horrific shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, approximately 100 Parkland community members will join gun safety advocates and Democratic elected officials to discuss the critical need to take action against gun violence.
McClatchyDC: Trump to discuss school safety with those impacted by Parkland, Newtown, Columbine shootings
President Donald Trump on Wednesday will meet with students, parents and teachers impacted by mass shootings in Parkland, Fla., Newtown, Conn., and Columbine, Colo., as he begins to searching for policies to keep America’s schools safe.
Trump will hold a “listening session” that may address mental health, gun laws and other security measures schools face as the administration begins to tackle school safety, what the president is now describing as a “top priority.” Continue reading below the video
Reuters TV: This is big’: Shooting survivors on a road trip for change
Politico: Shooting roils gun politics in NRA-friendly Florida
The state of Florida, long a laboratory for the National Rifle Association, brought America its first major concealed-weapons law and Stand Your Ground, not to mention policies like a prohibition on doctors asking parents about firearms in the home.
But last week’s mass shooting in Parkland, which left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, has unexpectedly jolted the politics of gun ownership in the country’s biggest swing state. For first time in decades, a Republican-led Florida Legislature and a Republican governor might limit some gun rights.
Sun-Sentinel: The latest on the Parkland school shooting
Two busloads of student gun-control advocates headed for Tallahassee on Tuesday, as students engaged in school walkouts around South Florida and more funerals took place for victims of last week’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Many of the students who left for Tallahassee went straight from the funerals of Carmen Schentrup, 16, and Gina Montalto, 14, in what is turning out to be an extraordinary mobilization of teenagers to pressure state and federal officials to tighten gun laws in the wake of the Feb. 14 Parkland massacre.
Daily Beast: In Parkland, the Kids Are Already Changing Things on Guns
The stages of grief are active in the young lives of students who survived America’s latest school shooting, but it’s the last stage—the acceptance stage—that they will not allow to set in.
Fourteen children and three adults were killed by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday. It was the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook. Unlike mass murders since then, where people have resigned themselves to gun laws not changing, this time already appears to be different, thanks to the kids.
Reuters: Video of gun owner’s assault on an AR-15 goes viral after Florida mass shooting
A video of a man cutting his semi-automatic weapon in half has gone viral following last week’s mass shooting at a Florida high school, prompting a social media movement decrying easy access to high-powered assault rifles.
Scott Pappalardo of New York state is the star of a clip posted on Facebook that had been shared more than 360,000 times as of Tuesday afternoon. It shows him taking a power saw to the barrel of an AR-15 assault rifle, saying he wanted to make sure it would never be used in a massacre like the one in Florida that killed 17 students and faculty last week.
Vox: Students are rising up against gun violence in the aftermath of the Florida shooting. Two major protests are already scheduled for March.
This time, it may be different.
That seems to be the hope after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed at least 17 people and injured at least 14 others. In the days after the shooting, students and activists have called on their peers around the country to demand action. This has so far culminated in two planned events: the National School Walkout on March 14 and the March for Our Lives on March 24.
The Federalist: To Prevent Mass School Shootings, It’s Time To Fight Fire With Fire By Arming Teachers (Opinion piece)
In the wake of the recent Parkland Florida school shooting in which an evil and disturbed young man opened fire on innocent, unarmed students and teachers, it shocks me to see people suggest that the best way to prevent these attacks is by disarming even more innocent people.
New York Times: The Mental Health System Can’t Stop Mass Shooters (Opinion piece)
SACRAMENTO — A few years ago, the police brought a 21-year-old man into the crisis unit where I work as an emergency psychiatrist. His parents had called the police after seeing postings on his Facebook page that praised the Columbine shooters, referred to imminent death and destruction at his community college and promised his own “Day of Retribution.” His brother reported to the police that he had recently purchased a gun
