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Why the U.S. Has 31% of the World's Mass Shootings

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A study suggests that the reason why might have to do with American exceptionalism and gun culture

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The US National Rifle Association (NRA) has said it does not support any gun ban following a shooting in a Florida school that left 17 people dead.

The NRA's comments appear to go against President Donald Trump's proposals to tighten gun controls.

Since the 14 February attack on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the NRA has become a target of a campaign for tougher gun laws.

On Sunday, some students returned to the school for the first time.

Accompanied by their parents, they were back for what the authorities in Parkland described as "orientation". A variety of support services were available at the campus.

Students are preparing to return full-time to their classrooms on Wednesday.

'Spike in school threats' after Florida shooting

Florida survivor: 'I'm not an actor'

What did the NRA say?

Dana Loesch, a spokeswoman for the influential gun lobby group, told ABC News: "The NRA doesn't back any ban."

She said the massacres like that in Florida were not caused by the NRA.

Ms Loesch suggested there had been errors by local law enforcement agencies and a lack of action by politicians.

Florida officials revealed after the shooting that an armed officer assigned to the school had stood outside the building during the shooting and not intervened.

NRA under fire for Parks and Rec gif

Firms cut NRA ties amid Florida backlash

The NRA endorsed Mr Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign.

What about Mr Trump's comments on gun controls?

Speaking earlier this week, the president said arming teachers could prevent school shootings like that in Florida.

Teachers carrying a concealed gun could end attacks "very quickly", he said.

Mr Trump also proposed raising the age limit for buying certain types of guns from 18 to 21.

The suspect accused of carrying out the shooting in Florida is former student Nikolas Cruz, 19.

Mr Trump also backed a ban on modifications that enable semi-automatic rifles to shoot more rounds per minute. These are known as bump stocks.

And the president called for improved background checks on gun buyers.

'Arm me with books' - the teachers saying no to guns

After Florida, some owners give up guns

What do students and parents want?

On Wednesday, President Trump listened to pleas for gun reform from about 40 students, teachers and families in the executive mansion's state dining room.

Hundreds of teenagers from the Washington DC suburbs rallied outside at the time - some voicing support for arming teachers.

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow died in last week's attack - the second-deadliest shooting at a US public school - said: "We, as a country, failed our children."

"It should've been one school shooting and we should've fixed it," he went on to say. "And I'm pissed. It's my daughter I'm not going to see again."

Mark Barden - whose son Daniel was killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut - said more guns was not the answer.

"Schoolteachers have more than enough responsibilities right now, than to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life," he said.

A ban on some types of weapons, advocated for by many students, is unpalatable for supporters of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution - which governs the right to bear arms.

America's gun culture in 10 charts

Six radical ways to stop US school shootings

Is it time for US teachers to carry guns?

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The US National Rifle Association (NRA) has said it does not support any gun ban following a shooting in a Florida school that left 17 people dead. The NRA's comments appear to go against President Donald Trump's proposals to tighten gun controls.

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It's not the only thing on students' minds as they prepare to return to the place where their friends and teachers were mercilessly gunned down. While they grapple with balancing school and activism, many are bracing for the emotional toll of confronting memories they'd rather forget.

"I feel like I'm not ready to enter the school, but I also feel like I can't let (gunman) Nikolas Cruz win," said Lina, a junior. "I'm strong enough to enter the school and give comfort to those who can't."

For those who feel invested in the movement, school feels like theater compared to real-life activism. And, for seniors who end classes in May, the question of what's next has implications beyond the final weeks of high school.

'It's really hard to deal with'

This is not the first time a mass shooting has hit close to home for Lina. She lived in Connecticut when a gunman killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. She remembers making cards as a fifth grader for those affected by the shooting. But she said it was too distant from her small world to feel real.

This time, it's different, she said. The Sandy Hook survivors were too young to speak for themselves. Columbine High School students did not have social media, and the shooting preceded the politically charged debate around mass shootings.

The Stoneman Douglas students are old enough to form their own opinions, she said. And, they have the tools of the digital age to help them organize and mobilize.

"For me to feel safe I have to see that we're doing something with gun control," she said. "If this keeps happening and nothing gets done, none of us are safe."

On Sunday, some students returned to campus for the first time since the shooting, to attend an orientation before classes start. The school is focused on being "flexible and accommodating" as students process their emotions, said Robert W. Runcie, superintendent of Broward County Public Schools.

Members of the Stoneman Douglas Drama Club have been working out those emotions together -- partly through their art. For a town hall that aired on CNN a week after the shooting, members of the group wrote and performed a song about perseverance.

With school closed, the group gathered at a hotel in Coral Springs on Thursday to regroup. Their teacher let a CNN reporter speak to them at the end of the meeting. CNN is not naming them because they're minors.

About a dozen students, ages 14 to 18, sat on the floor of a hotel conference room, leaning against each other with the ease of friends who consider each other family. They were together during the shooting, they said, about 60 students crammed into a closet. Since then, they said they barely spent a day apart.

"We're constantly with each other, so it feels weird when we're not," one student said.

They described memories of the shooting and lingering trauma. One boy expressed surprise at how quickly things changed. One minute, they were rehearsing an upcoming show, "Yo, Vikings," in the drama auditorium. The fire alarm went off and they were making fun of culinary class for presumably setting off the alarm, again. Then, the sound of gunshots sent everyone running to the closet, where they huddled together and sobbed.

Several students left their phones in their bags outside of the closet. One girl said she used a friend's phone to text her parents -- the only number she knew from memory. She wanted to let them know she loved them, but it would not send.

Another boy who left his phone at the school said he was startled to log on to his Snapchat for the first time days after the shooting and see a flood of messages pleading for information.

The sound of a door closing or a phone dropping would take them back to the shooting, they said.

"My brother had a friend over and they were screaming," one girl said. "I had a lot of friends over and all of us just started crying ... it just kind of sent us back."

"You just get so frustrated with yourself because you're like, 'why is this bothering me? This hasn't bothered me before,'" she said.

Another girl recalled freezing in panic when she dropped a metal bottle on the makeup counter at Macy's -- the sound was terrifyingly familiar.

It's easier to talk about the shooting with people who were there, another girl said. You don't have to explain what happened, or deal with well-intentioned apologies and questions.

"Whenever people say, 'Are you OK?' you really don't know how to respond," she said. "You hear a loud noise and then you freak out and they're like, 'What happened?' It's really hard to deal with."

Deciding between school and activism

Responses to trauma take different forms, and a handful of students are channeling their grief into activism.

In interviews with 12 students, most said their activism was a coping strategy; others called it a response to the reality of what they'd experienced. Whatever the case, it leaves them little time to breathe, let alone sit through hours of school, senior Ryan Deitsch said.

"There's a lot more work to be done, and I just know that if all the students who are active now have to stop, nothing's going to change," Deitsch said in an interview Friday at Pine Trails Park, home to a sprawling memorial to the victims, as well as a Red Cross resource center.

He had just left a Broward County Commission meeting with fellow seniors Diego Pfeiffer and Chris Grady, who said that fighting for gun control felt more urgent than school.

"It's opportunity cost. Our time could be spent so much more valuably," Pfeiffer said. "I want to be there to support my friends, of course, and to support my teachers who are coming back to my scary school, but right now we could be changing the world. That's a little more important."

With no single leader spearheading the movement, Deitsch said the students are taking on different tasks to prepare for a nationwide protest on March 24 dubbed March for our Lives.

What happens after graduation is another question. Grady said he had signed up to join the US Army, "but it just seems like this is just so much more important now."

"The real fight is at home," Deitsch interjected. "Yeah, not abroad. At least for now," Grady said.

Real-world activism might be more valuable right now than spending hours in an AP government class, Deitsch said. "If we're changing the government we should not have to take a test on the government -- especially when we see how many people have their heads up their asses and are not listening to those who are speaking out to them."

Some adults have offered to assist the teens, but Deitsch and his friends said they're not interested -- not now, at least. Film crews have asked to follow them. Recently, the teens were offered office space in exchange for attending a meeting that turned out to be a photo opportunity, he said. They declined.

"We are not here to make deals. We are here to push forward change and make sure we don't have to watch more people die," he said. "Every time they ask to come into one of our houses to film, that gives away the very few moments we have to breathe."

Those moments are increasingly scarce. A few feet from where they stood, television news crews filmed live shots and interviews. In the other direction, groups of families and friends strolled through a grassy field dotted with colorful shrines to the victims.

Some visitors laid flowers at the altars, each brimming with personal relics: stuffed animals, swim goggles, boxes of pasta. At the memorial's entrance, visitors exchanged stories and helped themselves to donations of food and drinks from local vendors.

"We're holding each other together," Pfeiffer said. "We're grieving in our own style. We're grieving together and I wouldn't be grieving with anyone else."

His plans after graduation? "Still figuring it out," he said.

Network pundits and political analysts may criticize their brashness, but in at least a dozen conversations with people in Parkland and neighboring Coral Springs, locals said they saw them as heroes.

"This is the same generation that was eating Tide pods," one man remarked at Pine Trails Park. "I was worried about them, but they're really stepping up."

'We are making these politicians look like amateurs'

For each student who has become a familiar face on television news, there are dozens more pounding the pavement. One of them is Stoneman Douglas senior Taryn Hibshman, who organized a rally on Thursday in Boca Raton, about 10 miles from Parkland.

Before the shooting, watching television debates was the extent of her political engagement, she said. Now she says she's committed to fighting for gun control when school resumes and as she heads off to college.

"I'm ready to go back to school and return to normalcy, or find the new normal," she said. "I'm kind of excited to move the movement forward with the rest of the school community."

The rally began at a German-style pub in an upscale shopping center where Rep. Brian Mast was scheduled to appear on behalf of Congressional candidate Paul Spain. Mast is one of several Florida lawmakers who has taken money from the NRA, and Hibshman said the rally's goal was to pressure Mast to stop accepting NRA contributions. (The following day, Mast came out with a list of measures he supports.)

A small crowd joined Hibshman and other Stoneman Douglas as they made their way down Federal Highway, waving signs that said #MSDStrong" and "Why is NRA money more important than our lives?" Passing motorists honked their car horns in solidarity and shopkeepers stepped outside to take photos and cheer them on.

They traveled to a small park called the Garden of Humanity, where a statue in the plaza bears the rallying cry of the Stoneman Douglas students: "Never Again."

After a moment of silence in honor of Coach Aaron Feis, whose funeral was taking place at the same time, Hibshman raised a loudspeaker.

"As children, we are making these politicians look like amateurs," she said. "It's because we're not driven by money, we're just trying to stay alive and we have nothing to lose -- no votes, no NRA money and certainly no Congress seats," she said.

After Hibshman, fellow Stoneman Douglas senior Hannah Karcinell, 18, stepped up. The day before, she had attended a funeral for her friend, Nicholas Dworet. The 17-year-old senior was recruited by the University of Indianapolis swim team, and the team's coach spoke at his funeral, Karcinell said.

She said she takes comfort in remembering her last conversation with him about Indianapolis. But his memory lingers in the room of her home where they studied together, and she expects it will at school, too.

"It will be hard sitting in classrooms with empty seats and thinking about the people who aren't there," she said. "But I think it's important to be with the community and be there for each other."

Before the shooting, she considered a career as a civil rights lawyer. Now, as she looks toward college, she's thinking of switching to political science, she said.

The day after Thursday's rally, Karcinell and her friends joined students from Deerfield Beach High School on a walkout. It was an 11-mile trek to Stoneman Douglas, but adrenaline powered her through it. She knows it sounds crazy, but she thinks part of it was Nick working through her.

As the movement continues, she hopes it stays focused on the victims and fighting for stricter gun control measures. "We can't forget why we're doing this."

'We are going to survive this'

The drama kids have mixed emotions about returning.

It's unclear whether "Yo, Vikings" will run on as planned on March 1 to 3. Meanwhile, they worry about being branded shooting survivors or victims, when all they want is to be called students -- or, even better, talented performers, especially at upcoming competitions.

"Now we're going to be known as the students that go to the school that had the shooting, and it's kind of hard to think about," one said.

"This school has done so many positive things, and we've all come out so great from here -- most of us -- but it feels like this is what we're gonna be known for and that just doesn't feel right," another said.

More than anything, they're looking forward to reuniting with teachers and classmates -- the only people who understand what they're going through.

"It's just hard being alone in a moment like this and you have to talk about it with people. You can't just keep it up inside," one boy said.

As much as she loves her drama family, another girl said she's looking forward to seeing other classmates and hearing their stories.

"It's the feeling that I miss them and I'm not seeing them that makes me want to go back," she said. "And it also feels like when I get back I'll have some sort of closure, like everything is going to be OK. We are going to survive this."

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how marjory stoneman douglas students feel about going back to school - cnn

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They survived a school shooting. Now, activism feels more urgent than classes

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It's not the only thing on students' minds as they prepare to return to the place where their friends and teachers were mercilessly gunned down. While they grapple with balancing school and activism, many are bracing for the emotional toll of confronting memories they'd rather forget.

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Gun control advocates want to know: Will Congress act this time?

After the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, members of Congress performed a familiar ritual: They tweeted, spoke, and emailed condolences to the victims and their families.

Usually, that's where things end. There have been 1,607mass shootings since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, when 20 elementary school children and six teachers were murdered by a gunman in Newtown, Connecticut. More than 100 gun control bills have since been introduced on Capitol Hill. All have failed.

But there are signs that this time could be different, as the high school survivors of the Parkland shooting are keeping up the pressure on Congress and planning mass protests around the country to end gun violence.Some Republicans who normally support gun ownership rights, like Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX), took an unusual step after the Parkland shooting: They said it might be time for Congress to pass a gun control bill.

There are two bills already in Congress that could get a vote, and more are in the works. On Wednesday, as high school students from DC, Maryland, and Virginia protested in front of the US Capitol and the White House, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) announced he and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) were working on a bill that would raise the minimum age to buy an AR-15 rifle to 21 for buyers who aren't in the military (an initiative opposed by the National Rifle Association). President Donald Trump also voiced support for that idea on Thursday, tweeting, "Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue - I hope!"

A kid too young buy a handgun should be too young to buy an #AR15. Working with @SenFeinstein on a bipartisan bill that will raise the minimum purchase age for non-military buyers from 18 to 21 - the same age you currently have to be to purchase a handgun.
- Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) February 21, 2018

Of the other two bills Congress is currently considering, one is a proposed ban on "bump stocks," which has gone nowhere in the Senate since it was introduced in October. Bump stocks are devices that essentially turn semiautomatic weapons intofullyautomatic ones, allowing a shooter to fire off multiple rounds rapidly until they release the trigger, which makes mass shootings deadlier.

The other bill, which is the more likely of the two to succeed, is the bipartisan Fix NICS Act. Many agencies consistently fail to report criminal records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and this bill would increase enforcement of the rule and give states financial incentives to report.

On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that President Donald Trump is supportive of the bill, which is a notable change from his position last year. However, Sanders also noted that discussions about the bill are ongoing and the text may be revised.

Even a bipartisan bill like Fix NICS faces an uphill battle in the Senate. In 2017, for example, Republicans largely voted along party lines to do away with an Obama-era regulation designed to keep guns out of the hands of some people with severe mental illness (Republican senators were joined by four Democrats in this vote). The regulation required the Social Security Administration to disclose information about some of its beneficiaries with mental illness to the national gun background check system.

Congress is out this week, so there won't be immediate action. And in the past, lawmakers have been extremely slow to take up any type of gun control legislation, even when there's bipartisan consensus on things like background checks. More often than not, momentum stalls and the bill up for debate languishes.

The chorus of voices has grown this time, with young people and high school survivors of the shooting beseeching lawmakers to take action and threatening to vote them out of office if they don't.

The bill with the best chance of becoming law doesn't make new gun laws - it enforces existing ones

The Fix NICS Act aims to fix a disturbing trend in multiple mass shootings: Existing gun laws in America are poorly enforced.

Case in point: the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (also known as NICS). Under current law, all federal agencies, including the Defense Department, are supposed to upload certain conviction records into the system. That check is then run every time someone buys a gun to ensure they are eligible to buy a gun and don't have a serious criminal conviction on their record.

Problems happen when agencies don't submit the records, which has happened before a number of mass shootings. Cornyn once characterized the number of records sent to the FBI as "staggeringly low." This is in part due to staffing issues; as Vox's German Lopez wrote, "the federal background check system is also notoriously underfunded, understaffed, and underresourced, allowing red flags to slip through."

Military conviction records are supposed to file into the system, but they frequently - even systemically - fall through the cracks. As ProPublica reported, a 2015 Pentagon report found the military failed to provide key records to the FBI in "about 30 percent of a sample of serious cases handled in military courts."

The bill was introduced last year after a gunman killed 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. In the aftermath, the Air Force admitted that it had failed to submit criminal records that could have blocked the Texas shooter, Devin Kelley (an Air Force veteran), from buying a gun.

Under federal law, Kelley shouldn't have been able to buy a gun because he'd been convicted in military court of assaulting his spouse and their child while in the Air Force. But the Air Force didn't hand the records over to the FBI, and Kelley managed to slip through the system. Similar problems occurred before the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Fix NICS Act was drafted by Republicans and Democrats. Its main sponsors are Cornyn and Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Both Connecticut senators are fierce advocates of gun control, as they represent the state where the Sandy Hook massacre took place.

Cornyn is a fierce advocate for guns. He even has an A-plus rating from the National Rifle Association. But last week, he took to the Senate floor and said Congress members needed to do more than simply offer thoughts and prayers to victims and family members, as they have done so many times.

"We need to not only think about and pray for the families and teachers and support staff affected by this terrible act, I think we need to conduct hearings and talk to the experts and find out what kind of tools might be available to us," Cornyn said. "I personally am unwilling to face another family member who's lost a loved one as a result of these mass shootings that could be prevented by making sure the background check system works as Congress intended."

A version of the Fix NICS Act has already passed the House, but despite Cornyn's high-ranking leadership position, it hasn't seen any movement in the Senate. Cornyn and other Republican leaders have frustrated Senate Democrats, who say GOP leadership in the House and Senate are the very reason Congress has not been able to act to prevent another mass shooting like Parkland.

Congressional Republicans are reluctant to close a loophole around automatic weapons

In addition to tightening the background check system, Cornyn has been open to a bill introduced by Sen. Feinstein that would ban bump stocks. Bump stocks are devices that harness a gun's kickback energy, making semiautomatic gun (which fires one bullet with each trigger-pull) mimic a fully automatic one (which can fire off multiple rounds until the shooter takes their finger off the trigger).

After 58 people were killed at a country music festival in Las Vegas last year by a gunman who used bump stocks, GOP senators said they would be open to Feinstein's legislation. While that bill had a hearing in the Senate, it has also stalled. Rather than take up the issue and pass legislation, Senate Republicans have said they want the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to make a regulatory change that would ban bump stocks.

That's the same position as the NRA, which said ATF should review whether bump stocks should be legal or subject to additional federal regulations. Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan and many in the Senate have said a regulatory fix on bump stocks would be faster than passing the bill, but the rulemaking process to examine the regulation will take a year, with no guarantee that the ATF will actually do anything.

With Congress failing to pass more than 100 gun control bills as the number of casualties from mass shootings piles up, it's easy for gun control advocates to think nothing will be accomplished. But the Parkland shooting is inspiring more direct protests and political action than many of the mass shootings before it.

"I hope that the families that have been impacted by this, particularly those who see themselves as Republicans, see themselves as conservative in terms of their viewpoints," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told Vox last week. "We really need conservatives to speak out about the commonsense idea that you do not have to interfere with gun ownership merely by doing gun safety."

On Monday, a number of high school students protested outside the White House, lying down on the ground to symbolize the Parkland students killed by bullets last week. National activist groups and students are planning two major protest actions next month: the National School Walkout on March 14 and the March for Our Lives on March 24.

"Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call BS," said Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzales in a speech that went viral this weekend. "They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence. We call BS. ... They say that no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS."

Correction: A previous version of this article described semiautomatic weapons as needing to be reloaded before each shot. They do not; they fire one round with each trigger pull.

Watch: America's gun problem, explained

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Here's what Congress might actually do on gun control

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Gun control advocates want to know: Will Congress act this time? After the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, members of Congress performed a familiar ritual: They tweeted, spoke, and emailed condolences to the victims and their families. Usually, that's where things end.

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GOP Governor: Don't blame guns for school shootings, it's the video games and movies https://t.co/3oirwjHXbT

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GOP Governor: Don't blame guns for school shootings, it's the video games and movies https://t.co/3oirwjHXbT https://t.co/uXxAzPHYxi

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GOP Governor: Don't blame guns for school shootings, it's the video games and movies https://t.co/3oirwjHXbT pic.twitter.com/uXxAzPHYxi
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 16, 2018

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GOP Governor: Don't blame guns for school shootings, it's the video games and movies https://t.co/3oirwjHXbT https://t.co/uXxAzPHYxi

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GOP Governor: Don't blame guns for school shootings, it's the video games and movies https://t.co/3oirwjHXbT https://t.co/uXxAzPHYxi

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GOP Governor: Don't blame guns for school shootings, it's the video games and movies https://t.co/3oirwjHXbT

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After alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, public calls for stricter gun laws are becoming louder in the United States.

Australia has not witnessed a mass shooting since 1996 - the same year the country passed a sweeping set of gun regulations.

Researchers say similar policies could work in the US, especially if laws were instituted at the national level.

Australia has not had a mass shooting since 1996.

Meanwhile, the United States has suffered 91 mass shootings (in which four or more people were killed by a lone shooter) since that year.

The latest shooting - when Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida - has renewed a national debate around stricter gun regulation.

We might look to other countries to see whether tighter gun laws can be successful. That is the case in Australia, where the government passed the National Firearm Agreement (NFA), a sweeping set of gun regulations, in 1996. According to the most recent data available - from 1996 to 2015 - the annual number of gun-related homicides decreased from 516 to 211.

Before 1996, the country had seen 14 mass shootings, but one particularly horrific spree led to gun reform. In April 1996 - in the worst mass murder in Australia's history - gunman Martin Bryant killed 35 people and injured 24 others at a seaside resort in Port Arthur, Tasmania. Twelve days later, the government instituted the NFA, which includes three main provisions: tight control on semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons; a national registry of firearm owners; and a buyback program so that Australians could sell guns back to the government.

While it's difficult to say whether the NFA directly led to the drop in mass shootings and a reduction in gun-related homicides, experts say we can draw some links.

Bipartisan research suggests that Australia's strict gun regulations have led to a big decline in firearm homicides

One of the more recent studies on the subject is by Elena Andreyeva and Benjamin Ukert, two public health researchers at the University of Philadelphia. Their 2017 working paper suggests the NFA decreased firearm mortality by 60%, including homicides and suicides. Another one of their peer-reviewed studies, published in 2017, came to a similar conclusion.

"The NFA is unique in that it tackles many different problems at the same time," Ukert told Business Insider.

The newer study compares gun deaths in various Australian states before and after the NFA. It suggests the NFA was more successful in states with higher rates of firearm deaths before gun regulations were instituted.

Andreyeva and Ukert controlled for several variables, including gender, age, economic status, and previous gun laws. Though their study accounts for both firearm homicides and suicides, they did not see a substantial decrease in firearm suicide rates since the NFA. The regulations may have had a much larger effect on firearm homicides, however. The study estimates that, on average in Australian states, there has been a 96% reduction in murders by guns since the NFA.

Other research has come to similar conclusions. A 2016 paper from the University of Sydney and Macquarie University suggests that Australian gun policies correlated strongly with declines in firearm homicides. They acknowledge that there are other factors at play (including improvements in medical technology and an overall improvement in crime), but also say the NFA was at least partly responsible for the national reduction in firearm deaths.

What the US can learn from Australian gun control

Andreyeva and Ukert add that, based on their research, the US can learn a few things from Australian gun regulation.

For example, the NFA mandates that Australians must wait 28 days before they can buy a gun, due to rigorous background checks.

"If it's hard to buy guns legally, in crimes driven by passion as opposed to preplanned acts, [the regulation] would have a larger effect," Andreyeva said. "If I want to commit a mass shooting and I come to the store to buy a gun, but I'm told I have to wait 28 days, I might change my mind completely."

Unlike American gun regulations, the NFA also applies to every Australian state. Prospective gun owners must obtain a permit and license, be at least 18, undergo a firearms safety training, provide a "genuine reason" for buying a gun other than personal protection, and provide documentation about storage arrangements for their weapon.

American gun culture differs from Australian gun culture

That said, there are differences between gun culture in Australia and America, which could make something like the NFA less effective in the US.

Gun control is politically polarizing in the US, and firearms are very accessible. (Currently, the number of registered gun stores outnumber Starbucks and McDonald's locations in many US cities, making firearms a deep-rooted part of American life.)

Gun control is a debate in Australia, but not nearly to the same degree. Since the NFA was passed, both of the country's two major political parties (the Labor Party and the National Coalition) have expressed support for it, and any changes to the law require a unanimous vote.

The public also readily gave up a large number of their guns after the 1996 shooting. During the NFA's buyback program in 1997, Australians sold 700,000 firearms to the government, reducing the number of civilian guns by approximately 20%. And in September of 2017, the Australian government collected 26,000 more unregistered firearms. Of course, the data does not account for every firearm in the country, like those bought on the black market.

Andreyeva and Ukert believe that the NFA made the black market for guns smaller in Australia, since an ocean surrounds the country and makes it more difficult to import guns illegally. Even if individual US states imposed strict gun control, firearms could still easily flow in from other states or nearby countries.

"The states would probably need to come together, and the regulations would need to be at the federal level," Ukert said.

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Australia has eliminated mass shootings - here's what the US can learn

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After alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, public calls for stricter gun laws are becoming louder in the United States. Australia has not witnessed a mass shooting since 1996 - the same year the country passed a sweeping set of gun regulations.

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The findings suggest the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, has shifted public opinion on gun laws in a way other recent mass shootings have not.

Overall, 70% now say they back stricter gun laws, up from 52% who said so in an October poll not long after a mass shooting in Las Vegas killed 58 people. Just 27% oppose stricter laws. Support for stronger gun laws has not been that high in CNN polling since a December 1993 survey conducted just after the Brady Bill was signed into law.

Public support for stronger gun laws has fluctuated over the years, peaking at 70% backing for stronger laws in 1993 and in the new poll and bottoming out at 44% support in a CNN/ORC poll in September 2014. Bumps in support for tighter laws following mass shootings have rarely lasted, but they have also rarely been as large as the shift seen in this poll.

The new poll also finds a deepening intensity of support for stronger gun laws. A majority, or 52%, say they "strongly" favor stricter gun laws, well above the previous high mark of 37% in polling back to 2013. Strong support outpaces strong opposition by a nearly four-to-one margin, a massive increase compared with the 36% who were strongly in favor of such a move and 27% who strongly opposed the idea in the October survey.

Overall support for stricter laws includes a majority of those who live in gun-owning households (57%) as well as majorities across gender, race and age categories. Nearly all Democrats (93%) back stricter laws, as do a majority of independents (64%) and a plurality of Republicans (49% vs. 46% who oppose them).

At the same time, an increasing share say they are very or somewhat worried they or a family member will become a victim of gun violence. Almost six in 10 say so now (57%), compared with 44% in June 2016 after a mass shooting in Orlando. Worries now are higher among parents of children under 18, of which 62% say they are worried vs. 55% among non-parents. Among those who are at least somewhat worried about becoming a victim of gun violence, 80% back stronger gun laws; that slides to 56% among those expressing less concern.

There is widespread support for several specific changes to gun laws, including 87% who back laws to prevent convicted felons and those with mental health problems from owning guns; 71% who support preventing people under age 21 from buying any type of gun; 63% who support a ban on the sale and possession of high-capacity or extended ammunition magazines (up from 54% in October, a new high in CNN polling); and 57% who back a ban on the manufacture, sale and possession of rifles capable of semi-automatic fire, such as the AR-15, which was used in both the Parkland and Las Vegas shootings (up from 49% in October).

Support for raising the age at which a person can purchase any type of gun -- an idea supported by some prominent Republicans -- crosses party lines (86% of Democrats, 67% of independents and 61% of Republicans back that change), as does support for keeping guns away from convicted felons and those with mental health problems (90% of Democrats and Republicans favor that, along with 84% of independents). There is also broad cross-party opposition to an outright ban on gun ownership (93% of Republicans, 87% of independents and 83% of Democrats oppose that idea).

But on the other proposals tested in the poll, there are sharp partisan divisions that reflect those in the public conversation around gun laws that has emerged since Parkland, particularly on a ban on weapons such as the AR-15. That proposal -- one that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio described in a Tweet as "well outside the mainstream" -- has the support of 80% of Democrats and 53% of independents, but just 34% of Republicans. Likewise, limiting the number of guns an individual can own garners 69% support among Democrats vs. just 23% among Republicans. And while backing for a ban on high-capacity magazines has grown across party lines, there remains a 34-point spread between Democrats (82% support) and Republicans (48% support) on the question.

In addition to a shift toward support for stronger gun laws, there is optimism in the poll that such changes would be effective. A majority, 56%, say stricter gun laws generally would reduce the number of gun-related deaths in the country, 42% that they would not. That tilted the opposite way in October after the Las Vegas shootings, with 51% doubting that outcome, as well as in June 2015 after the shooting deaths of nine people during a Bible study group in Charleston, South Carolina, when 60% said such a change would not reduce gun-related deaths.

Similarly, 59% think stricter background checks would prevent those with mental health problems from owning guns (36% say that they would not).

Gun owners are more skeptical on both accounts (61% say stronger laws would not reduce gun-related deaths, and 44% say more comprehensive background checks would not prevent those with mental health problems from obtaining guns), as are Republicans (almost three-quarters say stronger laws would not reduce gun-related deaths, and 48% say they wouldn't keep guns away from the mentally ill).

More generally, almost two-thirds, 64%, say that government and society can take action that will effectively prevent shootings like the one in Parkland. That is higher by far than the share to say so in CNN polls after mass shootings in Las Vegas (47%), Orlando (46%), Charleston (35%), Newtown, Conn. (46%) and Tucson (33%). Majorities across party lines say they feel effective action can be taken, including 79% of Democrats, 59% of independents and 52% of Republicans.

Overall, about half, 46%, say they have a favorable view of the National Rifle Association, while 49% hold an unfavorable view. That's the worst rating for the organization in CNN trends since 1995. And those with a "very unfavorable" view outweigh those with a "very favorable" one by a 31% to 21% margin.

The CNN Poll was conducted by SSRS February 20-23 among a random national sample of 1,016 adults reached on landlines or cellphones by a live interviewer. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points, it is larger for subgroups.

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cnn poll: seven in 10 favor tighter gun laws in wake of parkland shooting - cnnpolitics

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CNN Poll: Seven in 10 favor tighter gun laws in wake of Parkland shooting

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The findings suggest the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, has shifted public opinion on gun laws in a way other recent mass shootings have not. Overall, 70% now say they back stricter gun laws, up from 52% who said so in an October poll not long after a mass shooting in Las Vegas killed 58 people.

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The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, struggled with depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, according to a 2016 Florida Department of Children and Families report. But having a mental health diagnosis does not mean he would become violent, many experts say. And although Trump has said he wants to focus on mental health to stop school shootings, calling Cruz a "sicko" doesn't help, those experts claim.

"When it comes to mental health, language really matters. This is not about being politically correct. It's about wanting to do everything we can to encourage people to get health treatment that works," said Ron Honberg, senior policy adviser with the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Getting treatment is a challenge for the majority of people. Though 25% of the world's population has at one time experienced a mental or behavioral disorder, the World Health Organization says, only 44% of adults with diagnosable mental health problems and less than 20% of children and adolescents get the needed treatment, according to MentalHealth.gov. Studies have shown that people do not get help, in part, due to the stigma.

"Hearing language like this is a punch to the gut, particularly if we have a goal as a nation to increase access to mental health care," Honberg said. "This is about the worst thing you can do."

MentalHealth.gov, a federal website, cautions against using stigmatizing labels like "crazy."

"How helpful is calling a black person the n-word? Not only is it disrespectful, it fans racism," said Pat Corrigan, a distinguished professor of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology who manages the National Consortium on Stigma and Empowerment. "Using such language when it comes to people with mental illness is the height of disrespect and the height of ignorance, as it reduces some hugely complex person down to a diagnosis."

Corrigan also points out that it's wrong for a politician to use someone like Cruz -- or Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza or any other school shooters -- to imply that someone with a mental illness diagnosis is more likely to be dangerous or violent.

"You have these people living on the streets, and I can say in many cases throughout the country, they are very dangerous and shouldn't be there," Trump said Thursday.

But studies show otherwise. The greater majority of people with a mental illness will never be violent, research has found; in fact, people with mental illness are much more likely to be victims of violence.

"Countless studies have shown that if you were going to predict who is most likely to be violent, mental illness falls way down the list. Age, gender, ethnicity is a much greater factor, and we wouldn't lock people up based on these qualities," Corrigan said.

One of the solutions, Trump suggests, is to institutionalize more people with mental illness.

"Part of the problem is, we used to have mental institutions, and I said this yesterday, we had a mental institution where you take a sicko, like this guy, he was a sick guy, so many signs, and you bring him to a mental health institution," he said. "We've got to get them out of our communities."

Evidence shows the contrary, however. Locking up people with mental illness for a long time is counterproductive, studies have found. "The best care is not locking someone away in a hospital. It's done in the community, where you can have treatment that will help you get back to school or to work," Corrigan said.

The American Psychological Association cautions that it is important to keep gun policy and mental health policy in distinct categories.

"Science shows the most consistent and powerful predictor of future violence is a history of violent behavior, not a diagnosable -- or diagnosed -- mental illness. The mental health needs of the country are separate from the issue of mass shootings," association CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr. said.

"People with mental illness account for a very small portion of incidents involving gun violence, and research has shown that individuals with mental illness are no more likely to become violent than individuals without mental illness," he said. "Involuntarily committing people with mental illness will not address our public health crisis of gun violence."

Violent murders by people with a mental diagnosis did not go up when large institutions in the United States and the UKwere closed, said Diana Rose, a professor of user-led research who studies mental health at King's College London. "You cannot solve the problem by locking people up. It is just nonsense, and it destroys lives and is a deep form of social control, rather than provide people the support they need."

Rose said that calling the shooter a "sicko" is "insulting" and "mean-minded." She added that "it is almost impossible to predict, even if someone has a diagnosis, if they are going to be a risk" for violence.

"Evidence shows you would have to lock up thousands and thousands of people to prevent a very rare crime," Rose said. "It's a completely ridiculous solution."

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trump's language on school shooter's mental health could be harmful

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Trump's language on school shooter's mental health could be harmful, experts say

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The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, struggled with depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, according to a 2016 Florida Department of Children and Families report. But having a mental health diagnosis does not mean he would become violent, many experts say.

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https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/wj4gqy/why-mass-shootings-keep-happening-republicans

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Left: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty; Right: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty

On Wednesday, America was reminded that it's easy for a disturbed person to acquire guns and walk into almost any school, office, or store in the country and start killing. This time, the site was Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former student killed at least 17 people and wounded more than a dozen others. It was the second-deadliest public school shooting in American history. The country has suffered through so many similar incidents-at schools and concerts and nightclubs-in recent years that the response is almost ritualized: Photos are distributed of victims' families huddling in grief, biographies are assembled of the suddenly famous murderer, thoughts and prayers are offered in person and online, and many, many Americans call desperately for gun control.

The question hanging over everything is always the same, too: How do we prevent this from happening again? But Donald Trump and other Republicans remain unwilling or unable to take that question seriously.

On Thursday morning, the president noted on Twitter that there were signs the shooter was "mentally disturbed" and chided, "Neighbours and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!" But what the authorities could have done about the shooter's problems isn't clear. He reportedly passed a background check when he bought the AR-15 he used in the spree; Florida has fairly lax gun laws, and the shooter didn't fit into any of the narrow categories of people who can't buy or own firearms under state or federal law. (Many mentally ill people can legally own guns.) Last year, the shooter made a YouTube comment that said, "I'm gonna be a professional school shooter." That comment was reported to the FBI, but little or nothing was done-in America, being obviously unbalanced and obsessed with guns is not a reason under the law to inhibit someone's Second Amendment rights.

Later Thursday, Trump gave a more substantial response in a six-minute address to the country in which he declared, "It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference, we must actually make that difference." The only action the president promised to take was pretty vague, though. "We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health," he said. "Later this month, I will be meeting with the nation's governors and attorney generals where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority."

"Mental health" is of course the Republican go-to phrase after a mass shooting. Attorney Jeff Sessions alluded to it on Thursday as well. But people who actually study mass shootings often say that their perpetrators are hardly ever mentally ill. And though Republicans have talked for years about "mental health" as a counter to calls for gun control, they've also supported cuts to mental health services. The American Health Care Act, a.k.a. "Obamacare repeal," would have made it harder for many suffering from mental illness to get treatment by slashing Medicaid and eliminating requirements that private insurers provide mental health coverage. If Trump was talking about placing restrictions on the mentally ill owning guns, that's a different debate -but Trump has already signed a bill striking down those very restrictions.

As for "school safety," that could mean a few things. Trump has previously endorsed the NRA-sanctioned plan of arming teachers as a defense against school shootings, and his administration is apparently open to allowing more guns in schools period. But arming teachers (or placing armed guards in schools) would create other problems-would you prepare every teacher to engage in a firefight? If you did, would you have to (or be pressured to) pay them better? Would you have to be more careful to screen teachers given the expectation that they would be armed? Would cash-strapped towns and cities be expected to provide the weapons to their schools? What if an armed teacher or school resource officer killed a student by mistake? And of course armed guards can't stop all school shootings-they didn't stop Columbine, after all.

Trump doesn't seem prepared to even begin to grapple with what it would mean to put more guns in schools. Republican legislators, for all their concerns about mental health, have never moved to do anything about it. And though Trump promised to support the Florida survivors and families affected by the shooting, he'll likely ignore them if, like other relatives of mass shooting victims, they call for gun control (some already have).

The cynical response to Trump's words is that they are just an excuse to avoid the problem of Americans being gunned down for no reason week after week, and that the Republican Party as a whole simply doesn't care much or at all about gun violence. And it's very difficult not to be cynical after watching so many mass shootings in such a short time: By one count, there have been more than 1,600 since the shooting at Sandy Hook in December 2012, and according to the New York Times , three of the ten deadliest shootings in modern American history took place in the last five months.

As Trump left the podium, a reporter could be heard shouting the obvious questions: "Why does this keep happening in America? Will you do something about guns?"

Trump ignored him, but the answer seems obvious.

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This article originally appeared on VICE US.

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The Republicans' Plan to Stop Mass Shootings: Nothing

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Left: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty; Right: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty On Wednesday, America was reminded that it's easy for a disturbed person to acquire guns and walk into almost any school, office, or store in the country and start killing.

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CNN will hold a town hall with the victims' classmates, parents and community members. "Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action" will air live Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.
"We can respect that. We've lost people. It's important to mourn," junior Cameron Kasky said Sunday.

"Here's a time to talk about gun control: March 24. My message for the people in office is: You're either with us or against us. We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around."

Be forewarned: They're coming for the National Rifle Association and any politician who takes money from the gun lobbyist, Kasky and his classmates said. The NRA did not immediately return CNN's call seeking comment.

Kasky and his fellow students hope their efforts will dovetail with other events, national and local, aimed at persuading leaders to take meaningful action to keep schools safe.

They include two school walkouts, as well as a trip this week to Tallahassee, during which several Parkland youngsters hope to have sit-downs with legislators in the state Capitol.

According to a mission statement for March For Our Lives, students across the country will converge on Washington next month to say the nation can no longer wait to tackle issues of school safety and gun control reform. They're asking that like-minded folks who can't make it to the nation's capital stage solidarity marches in their own communities.

"Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear," the March For Our Lives website says. "It doesn't have to be this way. Change is coming. And it starts now, inspired by and led by the kids who are our hope for the future. Their young voices will be heard."

Kasky thanked the older generation that provided him and his contemporaries with "endless support." But, he flatly told them, in light of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting that left 17 of his teachers and classmates dead and what he sees as continued inaction from adults, "We don't need you."

"You are going to be seeing students in every single major city marching and we have our lives on the line here, and at the end of the day, that is going to be what's bringing us to victory and to making some sort of right out of this tragedy," he said. "This is about us begging for our lives."

'Badge of shame'

Kasky appeared on CNN with four fellow students, including Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, who have been outspoken since Wednesday's shooting about the need to reform gun control laws.

"We've sat around too long being inactive in our political climate, and as a result, children have died," Hogg said. "If our elected officials are not willing to stand up and say, 'I'm not going to continue to take money from the NRA because children are dying,' they shouldn't be in office and they won't be in office because this is a midterm year and this is the change that we need."

Kasky went so far as to say he and his classmates wanted to stigmatize politicians who take campaign contributions from the NRA.

"This isn't about the GOP. This isn't about the Democrats," he said. "This is about us creating a badge of shame for any politicians who are accepting money from the NRA and using us as collateral."

Gonzalez added, "We are going to be the difference." At a Saturday rally, the senior told a crowd of hundreds that the time for inaction was over.

"Maybe the adults have got used to saying, 'It is what it is,'" Gonzalez said in a fiery speech. "But if us students have learned anything, it's that if you don't study, you will fail. And in this case if you actively do nothing, people continually end up dead."

"We are going to be the kids you read about in textbooks. Not because we're going to be another statistic about mass shooting in America, but because, just as David said, we are going to be the last mass shooting," she added.

Florida lawmakers will experience the Parkland students' political motivation firsthand when they arrive at the state Capitol on Wednesday to speak to members of the Legislature.

Ryan Deitsch, 18, a senior planning to make the six-hour trip, says organizers have arranged buses to transport about 100 people, students and chaperones, to the capital. They'll travel Tuesday night and plan to address senators Wednesday morning and representatives that afternoon. The plan is to split up into teams of three to five students and visit with legislators individually, he said.

Deitsch concedes that while the students are educated, they're still high schoolers, so listening to the legislators will be an important component of the meetings. The students don't have all the answers, he said, so it's important for them to understand what lawmakers feel is actually feasible, in terms of solutions.

"We just know anything is a better solution than nothing," he said. "There are way too many people who have died, and if they keep dying, they're dying for no reason."

Missed signs

Details of what may have been warning signs missed by authorities, school officials and those who were in contact with shooter Nikolas Cruz continue emerging in the aftermath of the shooting.

The FBI failed to act on a January 5 tip of information about "Cruz's gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting," the agency said.

The proper protocols weren't followed and the FBI's Miami office was not notified, the agency said.

A video blogger said he warned the FBI in September about a possible school shooting threat from a YouTube user with the same name as Cruz. The FBI did not find information to identify the person who posted the comment and no connection was made to South Florida, said Robert Lasky, FBI special agent in charge of the Miami division.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review Friday into how the Cruz tip was missed and how authorities respond to similar situations.

Cruz's school disciplinary record shows he was reprimanded many times since middle school for incidents that included bad language and disrupting class. He was also punished once for fighting and once for assault.

Laurel Holland, a retired teacher who had Cruz in her English class during his junior year, said Cruz cursed her out during midterm exams and was suspended for two days in 2016.

There was a time when Cruz was caught at school with a gun-related object in his backpack, but Holland said teachers don't know what to do when kids exhibit "nebulous" behavior.

Kids who act out are referred to administrators, she said. Kids who cut class get detention. If she saw someone with suspicious bruises, she'd know to call social workers, who would get police involved. But with Cruz, there was no clear path.

"He fell through the cracks because we don't know what to do," she said.

The gunman's future

Cruz, who is facing charges of premeditated murder, is willing to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty, according to the public defender's office representing him.

There's no question Cruz killed 17 students and staff members in Wednesday's shooting at the high school in Parkland, Broward County public defender Howard Finkelstein said.

"The only question is, does he live or does he die?" Finkelstein asked.

State Attorney Michael J. Satz said Saturday that this "certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for," but now is the time "to let the families grieve and bury their children and loved ones."

The 19-year-old is being held without bond in Broward County.

Cruz's digital footprint includes slurs against blacks and Muslims, and declarations of a desire to shoot people. Other social media posts show a photo of a rifle, a collection of firearms on a bed and a photo taken through a scope looking out a window.

In a private Instagram group chat, Cruz talked about killing Mexicans, keeping black people in chains and cutting their necks. After one member expressed hatred for gay people, Cruz concurred, saying, "Shoot them in the back of head."

As of Sunday, four patients injured in the shooting remained hospitalized in fair condition, according to Broward Health. On Saturday, Broward Health Systems mistakenly told CNN only three people remained hospitalized.

It is not clear when students will return to Marjory Stoneman Douglas. The school is closed through Wednesday, and officials say they hope to reopen the doors by week's end.

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politicians on notice after school massacre - cnn

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Eliott C. McLaughlin and Nicole Chavez, CNN

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Parkland students say, 'We are going to be the last mass shooting'

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CNN will hold a town hall with the victims' classmates, parents and community members. "Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action" will air live Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET. "We can respect that. We've lost people. It's important to mourn," junior Cameron Kasky said Sunday.

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The Broward County Sheriff's Office is increasingly under scrutiny over its handling of last week's shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.

An armed officer was already on campus when the gunfire broke out but never encountered the shooter, the sheriff says.

Local authorities are also said to have had multiple run-ins with Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old former student charged in the shooting, in recent years.

A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association chastised the Broward County sheriff for not using Florida's so-called Baker Act to commit Cruz to a mental-health institution, which might have prevented him from buying a firearm under state law.

Local authorities are facing mounting questions over their response to last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school and their previous encounters with Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old former student they've charged.

Though the FBI has attracted the bulk of the criticism since it acknowledged last week that it failed to follow up on a tip it received in January about Cruz, the Broward County Sheriff's Office has also come under some scrutiny.

Among the details to emerge after the shooting:

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel announced Wednesday that his deputies would begin carrying rifles on school grounds. But though his department already had an armed officer on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school campus during the shooting, the officer never encountered the gunman.

"The response and actions of Deputy Peterson will be looked at and scrutinized, as will everyone's," Israel said Wednesday at a news conference.

"Where was the only guy with a gun when this happened?" Karen Dietrich, a Fort Lauderdale police officer whose two sons survived the shooting, told The New York Times. "I realize it's a large campus, and he may have been on the other side, I don't know. But it would not take six minutes on a full run to get from one end to the other."

Authorities have said Cruz fired his AR-15 for roughly seven minutes before ditching the weapon to blend in with a crowd of fleeing students.

The Times reported that first responders were unsure where the gunman was for at least 30 minutes after the gunfire broke out and that police took an additional 15 minutes to identify him.

Al Lamberti, a former Broward County sheriff, told The Times that mass shootings were "all pretty much the same in that it's over in three to five minutes."

"We have to learn from this, just like we did from the others," he said.

'We have to follow up on these red flags'

Local authorities have also faced questions about their previous encounters with Cruz and why they never arrested or involuntarily committed him to mental-health facilities.

Florida's mental-health law, known as the Baker Act, allows the state to hospitalize people it deems a threat to themselves or others and may prohibit them from buying a gun under state law.

Though a Florida social-services agency said in a report that it had previously been contacted to detain Cruz under the Baker Act, it determined he wasn't a threat, The Times reported.

Dana Loesch, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association, clashed with Israel on the subject during a CNN town-hall meeting on Wednesday, seizing on reports that his office visited Cruz's home 39 times over seven years and never arrested or committed him.

"Sending messages, telling other students that he was going to murder them and he was going to kill him I would think certainly would qualify under a Florida state statute for you to have Baker Acted him," Loesch said.

There have been numerous reports citing Cruz's former classmates and neighbors as saying he had a history of disturbing behavior, including boasting about his guns, selling knives at school, getting in fights, and killing animals.

"Look, I'm not saying that you can be everywhere at once, but this is what I'm talking about," Loesch said. "We have to follow up on these red flags."

Israel pushed back.

"First of all, we've talked about the Broward Sheriff's Office and some other local agencies and the FBI getting tips and what have you," Israel said. "America, there's one person responsible for this act: that's the detestable, violent killer. He is responsible for this act, nobody else but him."

Israel told Loesch it was incorrect that police had visited Cruz 39 times, but he said his office was investigating previous run-ins with Cruz and would act if any officers are found to have breached protocols.

"We are looking at every single case we got; we are following up on it," he said. "We will decide and discern what deputies did, what investigators did, and we will - I will - handle it accordingly, and people will be punished if they didn't do what they were supposed to do."

Gun threats and more 911 calls

The Broward County Sheriff's Office wasn't the only law-enforcement agency that encountered Cruz.

Authorities in Palm Beach, about an hour from Parkland, responded to an incident involving Cruz shortly after his mother died in November, CNN reported on Thursday.

Cruz and his brother, Zachary, had recently moved in with a former neighbor named Rocxanne Deschamps.

Citing a dispatcher's notes, CNN reported that Deschamps' 22-year-old son, Rock, called 911 shortly after Thanksgiving to report that an "adopted 19-year-old son" may have hidden a "gun in the backyard," even though weapons were banned in the household.

According to CNN, another report said that Rock Deschamps and Nikolas Cruz fought several days later and that Cruz told the Deschampses he had "bought tons of ammo," had "used a gun against ppl before," and "was going to get his gun and come back."

The report also said the deputy who responded to the incident spoke with both men, who "hugged and reconciled their differences," and that Cruz apologized for "losing his temper."

According to CNN, Rock Deschamps signed a form saying he refused to press charges, telling the deputy that he felt bad for Cruz because his mother died and that he didn't want him to go to jail, just to leave the home to calm down.

Shortly afterward, Cruz moved in with Kimberly and James Snead in Broward County and brought his guns with him, CNN reported.

The Sneads have said in multiple interviews with news outlets that they saw few warning signs that Cruz would become violent and that they forced him to lock up his firearms in a safe.

They said they believed they held the only key, but Cruz somehow had another one.

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Authorities missed dozens of warning signs about the Florida shooting suspect before the massacre

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The Broward County Sheriff's Office is increasingly under scrutiny over its handling of last week's shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. An armed officer was already on campus when the gunfire broke out but never encountered the shooter, the sheriff says.

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Town Hall Meeting

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Survivors of the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, took center stage at a CNN town hall Wednesday in Sunrise, Florida. The students, their parents and teachers asked frank questions of Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson, Rep. Ted Deutch, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch.

Listen to the town hall in its entirety:

Or read the transcript:

JAKE TAPPER, CNN: Good evening and welcome to Broward County, Florida, I'm Jake Tapper.

You're about to witness an historic exchange between survivors of a horrific school shooting and their elected leaders.

In this arena are thousands of people whose lives were changed forever, one week ago today, when a gunman opened fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 students and teachers. Four victims remain hospitalized.

But since that horrible day, we have seen this community come together and we have seen an amazing and eloquent group of students with various opinions talk about what they feel needs to change.

We're here tonight to facilitate your desire to speak directly to your leaders, students, and family members, and faculty will get to ask questions to Florida's two US senators, Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson, as well as their Congressman, Democrat Ted Deutch.

And later tonight these students and their families will get to ask questions of the road County Sheriff, Scott Israel, and a national spokesperson for the NRA.

We should note that President Trump declined an invitation to be here tonight, either in person or from the White House, as did the governor of Florida, Rick Scott who declined to be here in person or from Tallahassee.

Before we begin - before we begin tonight, we want to take some time to remember the 17 beloved members of the community who were murdered one week ago today.

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: May their memory be a blessing.

Students, parents, and teachers, the lawmakers are ready to answer your questions.

But first they each wanted a minute to address you, specifically.

I'm going to start with Congressman Deutsch.

REP. TED DEUTCH, D-FLORIDA: Thanks Jake.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you.

And thank you to CNN for being here in South Florida for a very important and yet incredibly difficult evening.

A lot of people have told this community, people from all around the world, that it's too soon - it's too soon to get together to have this kind of forum; it's too soon to talk about preventing another tragedy like the one that struck our community from happening anywhere again; it's too soon to talk about getting weapons of war out of our communities.

It is -

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DEUTCH: - it is not - it is not too soon; it is too late for the 17 lives that are lost.

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DEUTCH: It is too late for the grieving families, too late for the injured, too late for the 3,300 survivors of what happened.

Senator Rubio and Senator Nelson, we represent these fine people; we will not be judged by what we say here tonight, by the quality of our answers or by any back-and-forth in words.

DEUTCH: And Senator Nelson, we represent these fine people. We will not be judged by what we say here tonight by the quality of our answers or by any back and forth in words. The folks in our community don't want words, they don't want thoughts and prayers, they don't want discussions, they want action and we owe it to them (inaudible)

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: Senator Nelson. Senator Nelson

SEN. BILL NELSON, D-FLORIDA: We're all grieving. Your hope gives me hope. Your determination gives me more determination, and what we're facing is what's going to be done. Now there ought to be some common sense solutions like getting the assault rifles off the streets.

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Another -

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Another common sense solution - having criminal backgrounds on every acquiring of a gun.

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So, you have been so strong. Keep it up and keep hope alive.

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Thank you.

TAPPER: Senator Rubio.

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SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLORIDA: The - there's no words that could describe the pain that a parent feels at the loss of a child or when you lose someone that - it's not natural to lose a child. And I am a U.S. Senator, and I'm also a member of this community, and I'm also a father, and I'm also a husband, and I'm also someone who loves but I don't know what the pain is like to lose a child.

I did not grow up in a school or in an era in which children were shot in classrooms, and even as we watch this pain and the nation suffers with you our - we can never know the feeling. I can tell you this. There is a message that's come through loud and clear, and that is that beyond simply the pain - mixed with that pain is a demand for action and...

(APPLAUSE)

- while in that realm, I want to be honest with you. I think all of us would like to see action, but I want to tell you what we're going to struggle with. We are a nation of people that no longer speak to each other. We are a nation of people who have stopped being friends with people because who they voted for in the last election.

We are a nation of people who have isolated ourselves to only watch channels that tell us that we're right. We're a nation of people that have isolated ourselves politically and to a point where discussions like this have become very difficult. I'm here tonight, and I'm here tonight to answer any question anyone has, explain anything you want to know about what I stand for, what I've done and what I plan to do. And to the students that are here tonight, the ones on the stage, the ones in the audience, I want you to know that I'm actually extremely excited about your engagement, and ill tell you why. I'll tell you why, because I think you have a chance to do a lot more then change gun laws.

You should push for that. You have a chance to do a lot more than that. You have a chance to change the way we talk about politics in this country, and the reason why this event here is so important tonight - the reason why this event is so important - none of us wish we were here.

Eight days ago none of you thought you'd be here, but we are here and it's important that we are because tonight people who have different points of view are going to talk about an issue that I think we all believe and that is that this should never of happened and it can never again.

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And if we want to truly ensure that it doesn't - if we want to ensure that it doesn't then we are going to have to find the way of the nation - as a nation to work with people that may not agree with us on certain things, without accusing one another of being evil people and my side is as guilty is that of any.

And, here's what I hope for the students, do not make the mistakes that my generation is making. It may not be - - I hope it's not too late for my generation, but it most certainly is not for yours. Understand that people - - and I think on a regular basis, we do it in the Senate, between Senator Nelson and I.

I think people that disagree on issues can agree on what they want to achieve and can find a way forward, and that's what I hope tonight is beyond anything else. Because, sadly, we cannot reverse what happened seven days ago today, but we can make sure that one of these events never happens again in any community in this country.

And, if tonight is the beginning of that, then we will have said that this was meaningful, and that's what I'm here to do. And, that's what I hope we can achieve together and that's why I'm here tonight.

You might not like everything I say, or everything I stand for, but I want to find a way forward to solve this problem. So that never again will any community have to face this, any parent have to face this, or any child, yours or mine, have to face this in what I believe is the greatest nation on earth.

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TAPPER: Thank you.

I want to bring in Ryan Schacter. Ryan Schacter's younger brother, Alex, was killed in the shooting. Alex was 14, he played in the school band and the school orchestra. Ryan has a question for Congressman Deutch.

Ryan.

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SCHACTER: Congressman Deutch, my name is Ryan Schacter, I'm a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. My brother, Alex, was killed in the shooting last Wednesday. I'm supposed to go back to school in the upcoming week.

My friends and I are worried that we are going to be murdered in our classrooms. What reassurances can you give me and what specifically are you going to do to make sure that we can't have this fear?

DEUTCH: Well, first of all, I offer my heartfelt condolences. I'm sorry for your loss. And, I understand why you feel that way, because in our country today what happened at Stoneman Douglas has happened too many times.

What am I going to do? Well, as a starter, next week when we go back to Washington, we're going to introduce legislation to make sure that assault weapons are illegal in every part of this country.

(APPLAUSE)

But, that's not going to help you when you go back to school and all I can tell you is that we stand with law enforcement in Broward County. We stand with the administration and the teachers in your school to provide as much security, as much comfort, as much as can make you feel that you're in a safe place.

But, beyond that, the best way for us to show that is to take action in Washington, in Tallahassee, to get these weapons of war off of our streets.

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TAPPER: Thank you, Congressman.

I want to bring in Fred Guttenberg. Fred's 14 year-old daughter, Jaime, was lost last week and he has a question for Senator Rubio.

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GUTTENBERG: Senator Rubio, I just listened to your opening and thank you. I want to like you. Here's the problem. And, I'm a brutally honest person, so I'm just going to say it up front.

When I like you, you know it and when I'm pissed at you, you know it. Your comments this week, and those of our president, have been pathetically weak.

(APPLAUSE)

So, you and I are now eye to eye. Because I want to like you. Look at me and tell me guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids in this school this week. And, look at me and tell me you accept it, and you will work with us to do something about guns.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: Fred, first of all, let me explain what I said this week and I'll repeat it. I'll repeat what I said. And, then I'm going to tell you what we're going to do.

(BOOING)

RUBIO: We're going to talk about guns and we're going to talk about what I said this (inaudible). This is what I said. I said that the problems that we are facing -

GUTTENBURG: Let - - let him speak. I think we need to hear it.

RUBIO: I'm saying that the problems that we're facing here today cannot be solved by gun laws alone. And I'm going to tell you what we've done already and what I hope we'll do moving forward.

GUTTENBURG: Were guns the factor in the hunting of our kids?

RUBIO: Of course they were. And here's what - -

GUTTENBURG: It's the weapons of choice. Can you say that?

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RUBIO: Number one Fred, I absolutely believe that in this country if you are 18 years of age you should not be able to buy a rifle and I will support a law that takes that right away.

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GUTTENBURG: Fantastic.

RUBIO: I will support - -

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RUBIO: I will support the banning of bump stocks and I know that the President has ordered the Attorney General to do it and if he doesn't, we should do it by law. I will support changing our background system so that it includes more information than it includes now and that all states across the country are required or incentivized to report all the information into it.

And let me tell you what I've done already. In - - last year when we came up with our budget in the Senate, I pushed for and got approved $50 million a year through the Sandy Hook Initiative to provide a threat assessment fund for - - for all states to be able to stand up in each of the school districts a way to identify people who could potentially do this, and get ahead of it before it happens.

I - - I support - - I support moving forward on that initiative and making it widely available for everyone around the country. Now I think what you're asking about is the assault weapons ban.

GUTTENBURG: Yes sir.

RUBIO: So let me be honest with you about that one. If I believe that that law would have prevented this from happening I would support it. But I want to explain to you why it would not.

(BOOING)

GUTTENBURG: Senator Rubio, my daughter running down the hallway at Marjory Stoneman Douglas was shot in the back.

RUBIO: Yes, sir.

GUTTENBURG: With an assault weapon, the weapon of choice.

RUBIO: Yes, sir.

GUTTENBURG: OK. It is too easy to get. It is a weapon of war. The fact that you can't stand with everybody in this building and say that, I'm sorry.

RUBIO: Sir, I do believe what you're saying is - -

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: I do believe - - I do believe what you're saying is true. I do believe what you're saying - -

(BOOING)

TAPPER: Everyone - - everyone. The Senator has the right to be heard. He's answering Mr. Guttenburg's question.

RUBIO: I do believe what you're saying is true. I believe that someone like this individual and anyone like him shouldn't have any gun. Not this gun, any gun. But I want to explain to you for a moment the problem with the law that they call the Assault Weapon's Ban. And if you'll give me - and indulge me for a minute to explain to you the problem. First you have to define what it is. If you look at the law and it's definition, it basically bans 200 models of gun - - about 220 specific models of gun.

GUTTENBURG: Good. Good.

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RUBIO: But it makes - - but it - - but it - - it allows legal 2,000 other types of gun that are identical. Identical, in the way that they function and how fast they fire and the type of caliber that they fire and the way they perform. They're indistinguishable from the ones that become illegal. And the only thing that separates the two types - - the only thing that separates the two types is, if you put a plastic handle grip on one it becomes banned, if it doesn't have a plastic handle it does not become banned.

So let me explain if I may, just for a moment more.

GUTTENBURG: Are you saying - -

RUBIO: What the problem has been with the law - -

GUTTENBURG: Are you saying you will start with the 200 and work your way up?

RUBIO: I would explain what has happened - -

(APPLAUSE)

GUTTENBURG: I'll - - It's a place to start. We can do that.

RUBIO: Well - - let me - - let me explain to you what's happened. So in New York they have passed that ban. And you know what they've done to get right around it? It took them 15 seconds to do it. They simply take the plastic tip off of it. They just take the plastic grip off of the front or the back - -

GUTTENBURG: So we don't (inaudible)?

RUBIO: The same gun and it becomes legal, performs the exact same way. So what my belief is - - my belief remains that rather than continue to try to chase every loop hole that's created. That's why it failed in '94. It's why they're getting around it now in California, it's how they get around it in New York - is we instead should make sure that dangerous criminals, people that are deranged cannot buy any gun of any kind. That's what I believe a better answer will be.

(BOOING)

GUTTENBURG: Your answer speaks for itself.

TAPPER: Thank you Mr. Guttenburg. I appreciate your time. The only thing I'm - - I'm not going to tell anybody in this room.

I'm not going to tell anybody in this room not to feel strongly and - - and not to feel emotional. The only thing I will tell you is, when you do this, you're eating up into the time that other people in the audience, other people who want to ask questions are asking questions. OK? So you behave how you want to behave but I want to make sure that as many people in this community - -

DEUTCH: And - and I - and I know - Jake, I know this - I know this is not a debate, but I don't know if we're going to get back to it. And since - and I just want to respond to something Senator Rubio said because - because he told us a lot about - about his views on the assault weapons ban.

And I would just simply say this, if there is a problem with the assault weapons ban - which, by the way, when it expired let's be clear, mass shootings went up 200 percent in the decade after the assault weapons ban expired. But if there was a problem with the way that was written, if there were too many loopholes for - for people trying to get around it to utilize, then let's bring up the assault weapons ban and close all those loopholes so that we have bill that keeps people safe.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: And Gabe (ph) rose (ph) actually (ph) that is an excellent question. And I want to answer that one, if I may. I know it's not a debate but this is an important point, it really is because it - it is an issue that I want people to understand more about. First of all, it didn't take - I appreciate your words. It didn't - being here tonight is not courage. Courage is what you did, and what you guys are doing, and what those teachers and administrators that - that's courage.

And, Ted (ph), you talked to your story a moment ago. You know, I - I will tell you that what you've done in this effort, irrespective of we may have a different view on something, that's courage. That's real courage. Now on the issue that you've raised about the background checks, relate directly to what you said about the - about the assault weapons ban. It's not the loopholes. It's the problem that once you start looking at how easy it is to get around it, you would literally have to ban every semi-automatic rifle that's sold in the U.S.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: Fair enough. Fair enough, that - that is a valid position to hold, but my colleagues do not support banning every semi-automatic rifle sold in America.

DEUTCH: I - I believe - I believe that the idea that a gunman like this could march down the halls of Stoneman Douglas High School and fire off 150 rounds in six or seven minutes, that gun should be banned. There is no reason why anybody should own one of those.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: And that is a very valid point. But my point is that under the law that you support, there would still be 2,000 guns that were legal that could do the exact same thing.

DEUTCH: Well then let's sit down and figure out what they are so that we can ensure people (ph) -

RUBIO: I know, but what I - look, this is an important discussion because now you're seeing what the debate is about the assault weapons ban. And I just ask, will you ban - are you in favor of banning any gun that can do what the AR-15 can do?

DEUTCH: - I -

RUBIO: Yes or no?

DEUTCH: - I - I am in favor, Senator Rubio. If you have a concern about - let me just answer this question because it's important.

RUBIO: It is, that's the whole debate.

DEUTCH: Yes, and the - and the answer to the question is, do I support weapons that fire-off 150 rounds in seven or eight minutes, weapons that are weapons of war that serve no purpose other than killing the maximum number of people they can, you bet I am.

RUBIO: OK.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: That's important to know. And I want - that is a very fair position to hold, the - so you - and I just want you to understand, that goes well beyond the bill that's before us now.

DEUTCH: Well then sit with me and let's come up with something that you support.

RUBIO: OK. I would - I would - I'd like to let Senator Nelson into this conversation as well. Yes, I - I only raised that, not to get into a debate - and I - and I want Senator Nelson to speak, of course. I just want to say that I - the reason why I raised that point is so you understand, that is what the debate is about. It is about the fact that there are over - virtually every rifle sold in America today, can do what that gun does. We - and - and -

DEUTCH: That's not true.

RUBIO: - it is true. It's absolutely -

DEUTCH: Senator Nelson.

RUBIO: - I'm sorry, go ahead.

NELSON: Let me tell you about the bill that I have co-sponsored. It defines very specifically assault rifle, it lists 200 different assault rifles. It lists, for example, the Kalashnikov AK-47 that - did you know is manufactured in this state. Did you know that the state of Florida, the governor's office gave financial incentives for them to come into the state and manufacture? Tell you another one, that it is listed in that list of over 200 rifles. It's the Sig Sauer MCX. That was the one that Omar Mateen, despite the fact that he had been on the terrorist watch list and was off, went into a gun shop and purchased that high-powered assault rifle.

And on that list, it also includes the AR-15. And did you know that the state of Florida, the governor's office, gave financial incentives for the Colt corporation to come to Kissimmee to manufacture AR-15s, the same one that wreaked such havoc here at and that you all are suffering so terribly from.

TAPPER: Thank you, thank you...

NELSON: And so it can in fact be defined if you're very specific, and that's the bill that I'm a co-sponsor of.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

(APPLAUSE)

I want to bring in senior Ryan Deitsch. He has a question for Senator Rubio.

DEITSCH: First, I'd just like to say to Senator Rubio: Thank you so much for coming out here. I know, especially everybody that I've been working with over the past week, we've just really wanted to reach out and speak face to face to anybody who has a say in this debate.

And I know this is not a debate. This is a discussion. But I'm just thankful to have you here, to be looking at you today. Thank you so much, sir, for coming.

(APPLAUSE)

Now - now I'd like to say, Senator, these drills, code reds, active shooters, they've been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

When I was in fifth grade, I had to hide in the - in a - in a bathroom for three - for three hours, and just waiting with my teacher and nearly 20 other kids, to see that - just because a shooter has come to our town. Not even in the school itself.

Now, seven years later, I'm in a closet with 19 other kids, waiting, fearing for my own life. Now I'd like to ask you that, after me and several others have been going out of their way, going to the state capital, speaking out, we - we'd like to know, Why do we have to be the ones to do this? Why do we have to speak out to the capital.

(APPLAUSE)

Why do we have to march on Washington, just to save innocent lives?

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RUBIO: I agree.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: You're right. You're - you're absolutely right. And let me start by saying - and it goes without saying - that what you've lived through and what you live through is not supposed to be a part of your high school experience. It's just not supposed to happen.

The second thing I would say is that it is unfortunate that, in this country, we haven't been able to make progress on any major issue for a lot of different reasons, and this being one of them.

But you have do - you do have a chance to change it. I really believe it. But the change that we are going to have to figure out, how people that have strong feelings on both sides can agree on things. And I think you are making progress. I can tell you what's already happening, as a result of your advocacy.

For example, I've already announced - and I hope they will pass it. I really think they will, and they should - a concept called the Gun Violence Restraining Order, that allows authorities - and it has to be someone in your immediate family.

It has to be somebody you live with, it has to be your parent, it has to be an administrator - can go to authorities and allow someone to not just be prevented from purchasing any firearm, OK? Not just the rifle. Any firearm. And allow those to be taken from them, and that person will have due process.

Because I believe that if that were in place in Florida, and it - I - about three states already have it - it could have prevented this from happening. And I support that, and I hope they will pass that. And I think that is a result of your advocacy.

(CROSSTALK)

DEITSCH: If I may, I - I do appreciate your words there. But that feels like the first step of a 5K run.

RUBIO: It most certainly is.

(LAUGHTER)

I would say it's more than a 5K run...

(APPLAUSE)

... this issue - this issue will take more than a 5K run because there's so much to do. But that is an important step. And if that happens in the next three weeks, it'll be because of what you guys have done.

And it won't end there. On Monday of this week, I believe we're going to try, Senator Nelson and I, to pass the FixNICS Act, which is fixing the background check system. Because the background check is only as good as the information that's on it.

And one of the problems we have - and this is going to be an uncomfortable discussion for our country - we're going to have to look at HIPAA laws, when it comes to certain things. Because right now, they can't - these people can't even talk to each other if someone is under psychiatric care or something's going on in their lives. That's going to have to be fixed.

(APPLAUSE)

And what I'm saying is - what you're doing now is making a difference, it is making a difference. It's already started to make a difference. I believe it can and will make a difference if this doesn't end here, because the way we were in this country today, and I don't mean that as a criticism of you, Jake, but the cameras will leave, and the issues move on, but the heartbreak will remain.

And so if we truly want this to be the last time, then what you have done cannot end next week or next month or even next year, but I do believe at the end of the three-week session in Tallahassee, you've achieved that restraining order and a few other important things that I believe they're thinking about doing, I would take that, I would herald it as a victory, and I would continue the momentum moving forward until we make sure no community in America will ever have to have a forum like the one here tonight.

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: Thank you, Ryan. President Trump said today that we should consider arming teachers. We'll hear what a Stoneman Douglas teacher things about that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to CNN's Town Hall with the students and faculty and family members of Stoneman Douglas High School. I want to bring in right now Ashley Kirth. She's a culinary arts teacher at Stoneman Douglas.

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: For those of you at home who don't know, because I think Everybody in this room knows, she sheltered 65 students in her Classroom during the shoot out.

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: Ashley, thank you so much. She has a question for Senator Rubio.

ASHLEY KURTH: Senator Rubio, I'm a registered Republican. I voted for Mr. Trump. I still, you know, support the 2nd Amendment. However, with that being said and with all these talks of gun control laws and everything that you guys have been up there saying to us about what you're going to do about it, a lot of the flack that I've been getting back from my friends and from a lot of other people that are around the world is, the answer to the gun problem is to arm teachers.

And when I had those hundreds of terrified children that were running at me, my question to that is, am I supposed to get extra training now to serve and protect on top of educate these children? On - - on how to be these eloquent speakers that are coming up and presenting issues to you? I - - I mean, am I supposed to have a kevlar vest? Am I supposed to strap it to my leg or put it in my desk? How am I supposed to go (audio gap) that way?

RUBIO: Well first, I don't support that.

(APPLAUSE)

I - - I think I join everyone here in saying what you've done is incredible heroism. It reminds us that teachers are heroes everyday. Not just on these days investing in the lives of all of our students. And I think that bears thanks.

(APPLAUSE)

I - - I don't and I don't support that and I - - I would admit you right now I answer that as much as a father as I do as a Senator. The notion that my kids are going to school with teachers that are armed with a weapon is not something, quite frankly, I'm comfortable with. Beyond it, I think it has practical problems, and I'll share what they are. And this is really about the safety of the teachers as much as anything else.

Imagine in the middle of this crisis and the SWAT team comes into the building and there's an adult with a weapon in their hands and the SWAT team doesn't know who is who and we have an additional tragedy that was unnecessary. And so, I - - I understand how some people are saying that and I'm not belittling them. But as a father and as someone who has talked to plenty of teachers including the three in my family and the assistant principal in my family. I - - I don't think that would be a good idea in my view.

KURTH: The first thing that happened when the SWAT team came in, the first question they asked is anybody injured, and the following question is does anybody have a gun. And I wouldn't want to be the person saying, yes, I do.

RUBIO: I agree with you. Yes ma'am.

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: Senator Nelson, President Trump suggested earlier today that - - that he thought arming teachers might be an idea worth considering. Do you think it is?

(BOOING)

NELSON: I think it is a terrible idea.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, I was so impressed on the TV of the students, what they were saying to the President, and then the President comes out with suggestions like that.

(APPLAUSE)

You heard what the superintendent said. He doesn't want to have to arm teachers. Now - - now the sheriff came up with a suggestion that he's going to have a deputy that will be armed, but that deputy can't be in all of your buildings in a school of 3,000 students.

(APPLAUSE)

It will help if it's a deterrent. It is good. But, if the weapon is a high caliber, rapid fire assault weapon, it is hard to go into a fight against that if you've got just a handgun. That's not a fair fight. So get the assault weapons out.

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: I want to bring in -

(APPLAUSE)

I want to bring in Robert Schentrup. Robert lost his sister Carmen in the shooting last week. She was 16. She was a National Merit Semi-finalist. Robert's question is for Congressman Deutch. Robert.

ROBERT SCHENTRUP: Congressman Deutch, today would have been Carmen's 17th birthday. But sadly, we are having to celebrate her life instead of celebrating what a new year might bring. My question is, if a majority of Americans has long supported stricter gun control regulations, but our elected officials who are supposed to represent the people have done nothing, does this mean that our democracy is broken?

(APPLAUSE)

DEUTCH: First of all, I'm so sorry - - I'm so sorry for your loss.

What you're doing here is celebrating her life. What you're doing in asking that question is honoring her memory. And let me answer - let me be pretty straightforward about that. Is our democracy broken? A little bit. A little bit, it is. And I'm going to tell you why. First of all, when it comes - you said it's widely supported.

There is a poll that came out yesterday that showed that 97%, which when you add in the margin of error, is everyone in America, supports universal background checks. Now - so there - look. I don't have a good answer for why something that's supported by 100% of the American people hasn't been passed. Instead, look, there is a bill, there is a bill, Senator Rubio talked about the bill, the president talked about this bill that's going to make sure that they're talking about expanding background checks, making sure that everyone complies with what needs to be in the background check. Great. Let's do that.

But you know what else we need to do? Make sure that every single person in America who buys a gun has a background check. And secondly, look, and this is a bigger issue, is our democracy broken? When any organization spends tens of millions of dollars promoting the interests of gun corporations to influence what happens in our elections, then yes, our democracy is a little broken.

(APPLAUSE)

DEUTCH: - but the way - but here's - here's the beauty, here's the beauty of our democracy. No matter how much money the NRA spends on political campaigns, millions and millions of dollars spent trying to convince people that representing the interests of gun companies is more important than standing up for the safety of the people of America, no matter how much they spend, here's why our democracy is great, because everything we've seen, from the 3,300 survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the leadership that has been shown is leading a movement that is so much stronger than money spent in political campaigns. That's why the democracy can be fixed and will be fixed.

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: I want to bring in Cameron Kasky, he's a junior, and he has a question for Senator Rubio. Cameron?

(APPLAUSE)

KASKY: I'm sorry, I know I'm not supposed to do this, but I'm not going to listen to that. Senator Rubio, it's hard to look at you and not look down a barrel of an AR-15 and not look at Nicholas Cruz, but the point is you're here and there some people who are not.

And I need to ask two things of you. Number one, Chris Grady, can you stand up? This is my friend who is going to the military. I need you to tell him that he's going to live to make it to serve our country. And then we'll get to the other one.

RUBIO: Not only are you going to live to serve our country, you and you and all of you have a chance to change our country. Change not just our laws but the way we talk about our laws. So absolutely.

KASKY: Thank you. And guys, look, this isn't about red and blue. We can't boo people because they're democrats and boo people because they're republicans. Anyone who is willing to show change, no matter where they're from, anyone who is willing to start to make a difference is somebody we need on our side here. And this is about people who are for making a difference to save us and people who are against it and prefer money. So Senator Rubio, can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?

(APPLAUSE)

KASKY: I wish I could have - I wish I could have spoken - I wished I could have asked the NRA lady a question. I would ask her, how she can look in the mirror, considering the fact she has children, but maybe she avoids those.

RUBIO: I'm sorry, what was that?

KASKY: I don't freaking know.

RUBIO: That's okay -

TAPPER: The question is about NRA money.

RUBIO: - so number one, the positions I hold on these issues of the second amendment - I've held since the day entered office in the city of West Miami as an elected official.

Number two - no. The answer to the question is that people buy into my agenda. And I do support the Second Amendment. And I also support the right of you and everyone here to be able to go to school and be safe.

And I do support any law that would keep guns out of the hands of a deranged killer. And that's why I support the things that I have stood for and fought for -

KASKY: No more - no more NRA money?

RUBIO: - during my time here.

KASKY: More NRA money?

RUBIO: I - there - that is the wrong way to look - first of all, the answer is, people buy into my agenda.

KASKY: You can say no.

RUBIO: Well - I - I - the influence of any group -

KASKY: Guys, come on , be quiet. We're gonna be here all night.

RUBIO: The influence of these groups comes not from money. The influence comes from the millions of people that agree with the agenda. The millions...

KASKY: See, I see...

RUBIO: - of Americans that support the NRA, and who...

TAPPER: All right.

RUBIO: - support gun rights...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Sorry, Senator.

Guys.

KASKY: Guys, guys, if you...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Cameron is having a conversation with Senator Rubio. Let's let them talk.

RUBIO: But I - I - listen. I respect - you can ask that question, and I can tell you that I - people buy into my agenda. I will answer any questions you guys have about any policy issue...

(CROSSTALK)

KASKY: Right - right - right now -

Guys, be quiet, be quiet. You know we're gonna be here all night.

RUBIO: And I - and I just think that, ultimately, that is not our goal here. Our goal here is to move forward...

KASKY: Wait, so, hold on. So - so right now...

RUBIO: ... and prevent - and prevent this from ever happening again.

KASKY: ... in the name - in the name of 17 people, you cannot ask the NRA to keep their money out of your campaign?

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: I think in the name of 17 people, I can pledge to you that I will support any law that will prevent a killer like this from getting a gun.

KASKY: No, but I'm talking about NRA money.

(OFF-MIKE)

RUBIO: No, no. Because I - matter of fact, I bet we can get people in here to give you exactly as much money as the NRA would have...

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: But it's not - I understand. And you're right.

KASKY: Can you stand up and put your name to that real quick? OK. Not a lot. But we'll get it.

(LAUGHTER)

KASKY: I'll do it...

(CROSSTALK)

RUBIO: You're - you're right about that.

KASKY: ... you know, we've raised quite a bit of money so far.

RUBIO: Well, you're right about that. There is money on both sides of every issue in America. And where that leaves us in policymaking, is to look at the issues and make a decision based on what we think is right.

But ultimately, look. The First Amendment is as - is as important as the Second. And therefore, you have every right to ask that question of me, and I...

(CROSSTALK)

KASKY: Are you gonna be accepting money from the NRA in the future?

RUBIO: I - I've always supported...

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: - I will always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda. But my agenda is - I'll give you a perfect example...

(CROSSTALK)

KASKY: Your agenda is protecting us, right?

RUBIO: Well, I'll give you an example, this very evening. I have told you that I support lifting the age from 18 to 21 of buying a rifle. My understanding, before I walked out here, is that that organization is not in favor of that. But I think that's the right thing to do.

I don't know what their position is, on teachers being armed. But I don't think they should be. Because that's what I think the right thing to do is.

When I offered my bill to restrict people on the terrorist watch list, or that have been on the list for the last 10 years from purchasing a weapon, they didn't take a stand. I don't think they - they certainly didn't support my - but I offered it.

I will do what I think is right. And if people want to support my agenda, they're welcome to do so. But they buy into my ideas. I don't buy into theirs.

KASKY: OK. So I knew that was gonna happen. NRA, please just keep the money out of Rubio, OK? If he wants to run again, you guys can...

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Thank you, Cameron. Appreciate it.

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: Stay with us. More survivors of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School stand up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to the BB&T Center in Florida and CNN's town hall with the students and families and faculty of Stoneman Douglas High School. Next week students are going to return to campus for the first time since the shooting. Our next question comes from first year student Michelle Lapido (ph). She has a question for Senator Nelson. Michelle.

LAPIDO (ph): I just want to start with my school is not going to be another statistic in the 18 shootings that happened this year. My school's going to be the last and the beginning of gun control. Stoneman Douglas is strong and will be heard because our kids and our staff did not die for nothing. They died for change and they died for each other. Their deaths will not be taken in vain but as a calling for the change, gun control and safety in America. They're watching us from heaven and we are going to save what they died to protect.

So, I had a question for Ms. Loesch but she's not here yet. So for her and the NRA - she's probably watching - and all of you puppet politicians that they are backing. Was the blood of my classmates and my teachers worth your blood money?

TAPPER: Senator Nelson, you don't have to answer that question. Let's move on to the - - to the next question.

(BOOING)

LAPIDO (ph): Excuse me? I'm a student. I should have the - -

TAPPER: I understand that but your question - - I thought you were going to ask Senator Nelson a question. You're question sounds like you wanted to ask Dana Loesch a question in the next segment and I'm happy to do that if you want.

LAPIDO (ph): It's actually fine. I had another question for you Senator Nelson.

TAPPER: OK. Let's do that then.

LAPIDO (ph): So, I'm going to have to go back to school. On to the same campus, the same building to pick up my stuff, to resume my classes, to keep studying and I'm never going to feel safe on another public school campus ever again. I never want to have to go through and feel like I'm putting myself in such a vulnerable situation ever because that was one of the worst moments of my life.

So why don't we consider the worst possible scenarios? Because these things have been happening all around the country and it's more common than winning any lottery. Why don't we assume the worst situation like we do on planes, where we have life vests in case we land in the ocean or slides in case we need to an emergency crash. Why don't we have Kevlar vests in classrooms for our students? Why don't we build our walls with Kevlar so that kids aren't being shot through their own walls because they're so cheaply built? Why don't we have more funding to protect ourselves? Why do you guys protect yourselves with guns, protect yourselves with vests and you protect America's children with nothing but drywall?

(APPLAUSE)

NELSON: And my answer is, why don't we get the assault rifles off the street. Why don't we do the criminal background checks so that you have much more of a measure of security when you go to school? No, you shouldn't have to have Kevlar vests. That's part of being in America and that's what your school board, your teachers, your principal, they have done so effectively is, they try to protect you and even stand in the way of bullets to protect you. That is not a fear that you should have.

And although we are all grieving right now - this is a very tough time - there is a great strength that's coming out in the voices that are being spoken here and you've got to let that strength overrule the fears.

But at the same time, you've got to continue to be strong and speak out.

I said earlier your hope gives me hope; your determination gives me more determination to see this through and get some common-sense laws with regards to guns in America.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: - lives, so many teachers lives - all of this, for it to change, why does it have to take so many, by the first time it should've been changed but it's -

NELSON: Less -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: - gone this far -

NELSON: - let me just say -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -inaudible died -

NELSON: - inaudible -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: - you lost a future Olympic medalist, whose funeral I was supposed to be attending but you know change is more important because that's what they would've wanted.

Why does it have to take so much blood to be spilled, so much money for you guys to gain from not answering the questions, Mr. Rubio?

Why - why is this happening?

Why are we - why hasn't this changed already, why do we have to be the last school, why wasn't the first school the last school?

(APPLAUSE)

NELSON: And you could ask, the same question, why two years ago when 49 lives were taken in the Pulse nightclub, and nothing was done; not in Washington, not in Tallahassee, not one thing offered by the administration in Tallahassee.

And here we are, going through this again.

And it's going to unfortunately very possibly continue unless we get some common-sense laws on the book.

TAPPER: Thank you Senator Nelson.

I want to bring Chris Grady back, Cameron introduced us all to him, he's a senior and he recently enlisted in the Army, and thank you for that.

Chris Grady.

And he has a question for Senator Rubio.

GRADY: I would just like to thank you again for coming out and listening to us because that's a lot more than what can be said for our so-called president and governor.

(APPLAUSE)

GRADY: I believe I speak for myself and my colleagues in the "Never Again Movement" when I say, though we might not see eye-to-eye on a lot of these issues, we need you and your colleagues on both sides to come together with us and find compromise, if we are ever to solve this epidemic that is - I'm sorry - this epidemic that has plaguing our country.

Senator Rubio, I believe a big issue, when it comes to the debate about semiautomatic weapons and automatic weapons is large capacity magazines.

Would you agree that there is no place in our society for large capacity magazines capable of firing off - over - from 15 to 30 rounds and if not more?

RUBIO: First let me thank you for your willingness to serve our country, you're doing it tonight and you're going to be do it in uniform and we're very grateful to you.

(APPLAUSE)

And I'm glad you asked that question because I traditionally have not supported looking at magazine clip size, and after this and some of the details I learned about it, I'm reconsidering that position and I tell you why.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: I'll tell you why.

Because while it may not prevent an attack, it may save lives in an attack. And I'll let - I'll let the authorities discuss at the appropriate time why I say that.

But suffice it to say that I believe that there will be evidence that at a key moment in this incident, three or four people - three or four people might be alive today because of something that this deranged killer date, had to do, and obviously it's not for me to make law enforcement announcements.

I don't know what the right number is. I don't know what - I know that there are for example handguns that has 17 and so we'll have to get into that debate. But that is something I believe we can reach a compromise in this country and that I am willing to reconsider because I do believe that in this instance, it didn't prevent - it wouldn't have prevented the attack but it made it less lethal.

And that's the kind of thing that I hope my colleagues - and that's why these discussions are important because they do lead you to rethink positions after you've taken new information and new input from people.

By the way American politics is the only part of our lives where changing your mind based on new information is a - is a bad thing.

We do it in every other aspect of our lives. And we've got to - and we have to stop doing that as well.

So that is an issue I'll look into absolutely.

(APPLAUSE)

TAPPER: Thank you Senator.

(APPLAUSE)

There's no question that the Republican Party is more allied with the NRA than the Democratic Party. But it also is worth pointing out that the Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House in 2009 and 2010 and gun control was not a priority. That's just a fact. Senator Nelson, was that a mistake by your party?

NELSON: Yes. When the Senate had 60 votes, as we did until Ted Kennedy died, that's how we got the Affordable Care Act passed. And, yes, gun legislation under those circumstances should have been considered because there'd been a lot of massacres up to that point. It was Sandy Hook that occurred later in the Obama administration that a lot of people thought would be the turning point because of these little first, second, and third graders gunned down.

And yet, nothing was done. And then you go through all the other shootings. And so, I can tell you that in the meantime, until we do get 60 votes again in the U.S. Senate, when we could guarantee that we would get the legislation through, I'm going to continue to work with my colleagues and specifically Senator Rubio to see whatever we can get.

The hard reality is that there are not a majority of senators, primarily the ones that have been supported financially

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Transcript: Stoneman students' questions to lawmakers and the NRA at the CNN town hall | CNN Politics

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Survivors of the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, took center stage at a CNN town hall Wednesday in Sunrise, Florida. The students, their parents and teachers asked frank questions of Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson, Rep. Ted Deutch, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch.

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The home of the former school resource deputy who stayed outside the Florida high school as last week's massacre unfolded was being protected Friday by law enforcement officials - even as President Trump called out the ex-cop, suggesting he was a "coward."

Reporters who attempted to approach the West Palm Beach home of ex-Broward County Sheriff's Office Deputy Scot Peterson were reportedly met with resistance from at least six police officers who were standing guard outside.

"They prevented us from approaching the house," WSVN's Frank Guzman tweeted Thursday.

An Associated Press reporter said he approached Peterson's home Thursday night, seeing lights on inside and cars present. He rang the doorbell twice, but no one answered.
TIMELINE OF FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING
Before departing for his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday morning, Trump, in a set of fiery remarks, lambasted Peterson.

"When it came time to get in there and do something, he didn't have the courage, or something happened," Trump said. "He certainly did a poor job. That's the case where somebody was outside, they are trained, they didn't react properly under pressure or they were a coward."

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Peterson, who was armed when gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, "never went in[to]" the building that was under attack. He said the school resource officer instead took up a position viewing the western entrance of the building.

Israel said he was "devastated, sick to my stomach" after learning of Peterson's inaction during the school shooting that left 17 people dead. The sheriff said he believes Peterson remained outside the building for roughly four minutes, while the shooting in total lasted around six minutes. Israel said the officer never fired his weapon.

"What matters is that when we, in law enforcement, arrive at an active shooter, we go in and address the target," the sheriff said. "And that's what should've been done."

When asked what Peterson should have done, Israel said the deputy should have "went in, addressed the killer, killed the killer."

He added: "There are no words. I mean, these families lost their children...I've been to the funerals...I've been to the vigils. It's just, ah, there are no words."

Peterson resigned Thursday after video surveillance showed he never entered the school, even though he "clearly" knew there was a shooting taking place, officials said.

Officer Tim Burton of the Coral Springs Police Department, who responded to the shooting, told The New York Times that Peterson "was seeking cover behind a concrete column leading to a stairwell."

More on the Florida school shooting...

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office confirmed to WTVJ that Peterson's family requested privacy and protection following Peterson's resignation.

Student Jenna Jorsten told WSVN that she was "in shock" Peterson stayed outside -- especially after learning of unarmed teachers and students risking their lives to save others.

"If he's the one with a gun, he should be the one out there with the gun trying to protect the kids," she said. "Why was he hiding outside? It just makes no sense to me whatsoever. I mean it just doesn't make sense to me at all."
FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING SURVIVORS DREAD PARKLAND CAMPUS RETURN
Cruz, 19, has been jailed on 17 counts of murder and police said he confessed to being the shooter. Defense attorneys, state records and people who knew him indicate Cruz displayed behavioral troubles for years.

Two other deputies from the Broward County Sheriff's Office have been placed on restrictive duty as officials investigate "whether or not they could have done more, should've done more."

The officers were identified by WSVN as Edward Eason and Guntis Treijis.

Their restricted assignments come as authorities found they responded to at least 23 calls regarding Cruz or his brother since 2008. In two of the instances, Col. Jack Dale said, protocol might not have been followed.

Israel said an investigation remains ongoing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Cop who didn't enter school during Florida shooting resigns, has home guarded, is slammed as 'coward' by Trump

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The home of the former school resource deputy who stayed outside the Florida high school as last week's massacre unfolded was being protected Friday by law enforcement officials - even as President Trump called out the ex-cop, suggesting he was a "coward."

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Teachers already armed?

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What It's Like Inside a School Shooting Drill

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Putting An End To Gun Violence In The USA (World Peace 

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Putting An End To Gun Violence In The USA (World Peace 

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The USA's status as the country with the most mass shootings has called into question the very meaning of the Second Amendment. According to non-profit Gun Violence Archive, there have been a staggering 1,800 deaths in this year alone and it's only February.

The Small Arms Survey conducted by Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Switzerland found that Americans own the highest number of guns per capita in the world. To put it into perspective, Americans are more likely to die from gunshots than from skin cancer. While the United States is home to just 5% of the world population, it makes up 31% of mass shooters - a clear anomaly in the developed world.

The most recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida killed 17 students, which has led to a debate on what needs to change. Is it the amount of parental supervision, the attitude of today's youth, the poor healthcare system, or laws on gun control?

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old expelled student, was charged last week with premeditated murder. His former classmates described him as a "loner" and "a troubled kid" and many stated they weren't shocked by his actions given his obsession with guns. A student told WJXT, a news station in Jacksonville, Florida, that "A lot of kids threw jokes around like that, saying that he would be the one to shoot up the school. It turns out, you know, everyone predicted it."

Cruz was living with a family friend and seemed to be getting his life back on track. His attorney claimed despite his behavioural issues, "Nobody saw it coming and nobody knows why."

President Trump responded through a tweet, which mentioned nothing about gun control and instead attempted to divert attention to tackling mental health issues. He offered his condolences and stated, "No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school." He also expressed his disappointment in the FBI, after they admitted they failed to act on a tip regarding Cruz. A "listening session" will be held with President Trump and a few students who survived the shooting.

In addition, former President Barack Obama tweeted last Thursday, "We are grieving with Parkland. But we are not powerless. Caring for our kids is our first job. And until we can honestly say that we're doing enough to keep them safe from harm, including long overdue, common-sense gun safety laws that most Americans want, then we have to change." Obama stressed the need for stronger gun control during his entire term but his endeavours to introduce more stringent regulations were rejected by Congress.

Several survivors of the shooting are planning to organize a march in Washington on the 24th of March, urging the need for stricter laws pertaining to gun control. Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory, stated in a Fort Lauderdale rally, "we are going to be the last mass shooting." Another student, Delaney Tarr, who survived the shooting by hiding in a closet said, "Because of these gun laws, people that I know died. ... Because of the systematic failure of our government, at every level, people are dying every day."

To curb such massacres, U.S. authorities could take cues from other countries that have made efforts to curb gun violence. For instance, in Australia, the government used a major buyback campaign to purchase guns from citizens after the death of 35 people from a shooting in 1996. This move cut the number of gun-violence induced deaths by half in the next 10 years and there have been no mass shootings since. Around the same time, the U.K. also passed legislation spurring a 200 million buyback programme.

Words must be turned into action, the time to play the blame game is over. It is time for politicians to start thinking about changing laws or the number of mass shootings will continue to escalate.

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Putting An End To Gun Violence In The U.S.A.

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The USA's status as the country with the most mass shootings has called into question the very meaning of the Second Amendment. According to non-profit Gun Violence Archive, there have been a staggering 1,800 deaths in this year alone and it's only February.

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https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/02/25/broward-county-sheriff-scott-israel-sotu-responsibility-sot.cnn

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https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/politics/trump-listening-sessions-parkland-students/index.html

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https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/politics/cnn-town-hall-florida-shooting/index.html

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A little more than a week ago, Connor Dietrich was a normal high-school student whose daily routine included stressing out about standardized tests and going to afternoon practice for the diving team.

Now, he is a survivor of a mass shooting. His friend Nicholas Dworet and his brother's best friend Peter Wang are dead. And in their memory, Mr. Dietrich decided to travel to Florida's capital to push lawmakers to restrict access to guns.

"If Nick was alive, this is exactly what he'd be doing," Mr. Dietrich, 17, said on Wednesday. "I'm missing his funeral to be here for him."

Mr. Dietrich was one of more than 100 students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., to make the 700-kilometre journey north to Tallahassee this week. Some were missing the funeral of a friend or had just attended one. But joined in grief and anger, they had resolved to use their voices to change the debate over guns in America.

On Wednesday, exactly a week after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz allegedly killed 17 people at their school, the students walked the twisting corridors of the Florida state legislature holding meetings with dozens of state lawmakers. Outside, hundreds of students from local schools and universities joined a large rally in favour of gun control.

Eloquent and furious, the Parkland students have altered the script for responding to mass shootings. Days after the attack, they called on policy makers to take concrete action to prevent future tragedies and began working to turn their cause into a national movement. Their activism appears to be shifting the ground in Florida, where legislators are reportedly considering small but significant changes to state law (earlier in the week, however, Republicans rejected a move to consider a ban on assault weapons).

In the wake of the shooting, U.S. President Donald Trump has signalled that he might be willing to consider changes to federal gun laws - for instance tightening background checks and raising age limits for gun purchasers - but he has yet to put forward specific proposals. On Wednesday, he met with students and parents from Parkland at the White House for a "listening session." Mr. Trump said he would explore the possibility of arming school personnel if they had special training.

In Tallahassee, dozens of Parkland students emerged from the city's civic centre early on Wednesday morning. They had slept little, using the nighttime hours to research voting records and prepare their appeals to lawmakers and the public. They filed out carrying pillows, sleeping bags and blankets, all wearing some kind of school T-shirt - from the orchestra, the softball team, the masquerade troupe, the newspaper.

Everywhere they went, they encountered expressions of support. The night before, when they arrived in Tallahassee, their buses were greeted with applause from local high-school students who also carried signs urging them forward. The sight moved Lorena Sanabria, 16, to tears. "I was sobbing," she said. Coming to Tallahassee and agitating for change is "definitely how we cope."

The students seized their chances to press lawmakers. In a committee room on the fourth floor of the Capitol building, they pushed three Republican state senators to back changes that would have prevented the gunman who killed their friends and teachers from buying a semi-automatic rifle. Olivia Feller, 16, rose and asked a pointed question of Joe Negron, who leads the state Senate: Would he support raising the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle to 21, yes or no?

Mr. Negron waffled. Before making a decision, he wanted to see the full text of a bill. But Bill Galvano, his Republican colleague, was unequivocal. "My answer is yes," he said. "Thank you!" the students yelled and burst into applause.

Later, Ms. Feller went outside to see the simultaneous gun-control rally being held on the Capitol grounds. The local school district had said it would excuse the absences of students who wished to attend the protest. "It's so surreal," Ms. Feller said, surveying the crowd of more than 3,000 people.

"I was just a regular student a week ago. Now we're right in it."

At an emotional midday news conference, nine Parkland students rejected the critiques and conspiracy theories that have been hurled in their direction - that they were too young to know what they were doing, that they wouldn't last long, even that they were "paid actors" according to one right-wing website.

Lorenzo Prado, an 11th grader, broke down crying as he remembered his murdered friends and the experience of being held at gunpoint after police officers mistook him for the shooter. As Mr. Prado recounted his story, three of the other students set to speak wiped tears from their eyes.

"The law has failed us," Mr. Prado said. The gunman was able to purchase an assault weapon "before he could drink beer."

Sofie Whitney, 18, said she was discouraged by her interactions on Wednesday with lawmakers, but warned them not to underestimate the assembled students. "We will not let those 17 beautiful souls die for nothing because we are going to make a change," she said. "We will not give up. This is only the beginning of our history. Please be on the right side of it."

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Parkland students take fight to Florida's capital, use voice to change debate on gun control

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A little more than a week ago, Connor Dietrich was a normal high-school student whose daily routine included stressing out about standardized tests and going to afternoon practice for the diving team. Now, he is a survivor of a mass shooting. His friend Nicholas Dworet and his brother's best friend Peter Wang are dead.

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Amazing active citizenship

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A GoFundMe campaign to support the March for Our Lives event next month has raised more than $1.7 million in 3 days -- and that doesn't even include $2 million given to the cause by Hollywood personalities like George and Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, per Variety.

Each of them pledged $500,000 to the cause this week. Now, the students have a whopping $3.7 million on hand to organize the March 24 march.

A website for the march, which links to the GoFundMe, says the funds will be used to organize marches in Washington, D.C. and across the country.

The campaign, started by Stoneman Douglas juniorCameron Kasky, says leftover money will go towards victims' funds for those affected by last week's shooting, which killed 17 students and faculty at the Parkland, Florida, school.

A separate GoFundMe campaign solely dedicated to victims' funds has raised more than $1.9 million in six days. That page is hosted by the Broward Education Foundation, which supports Broward County's public schools -- including Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

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parkland students have raised $3.7 million in 3 days. here's how they'll spend it - cnn

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In just 3 days, Parkland students have raised $3.7 million. Here's how they'll spend it

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A GoFundMe campaign to support the March for Our Lives event next month has raised more than $1.7 million in 3 days -- and that doesn't even include $2 million given to the cause by Hollywood personalities like George and Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, per Variety.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns/nra-chief-slams-anti-gun-elites-after-florida-school-massacre-idUSKCN1G61KZ

-Comments on how they want teachers to carry guns and more about the NRA

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Information and Videos about the mass shooting in Florida 

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Information and Videos about the mass shooting in Florida 

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http://time.com/5158678/what-to-know-about-the-active-shooter-situation-at-florida-high-school/

-Contains details about the shooting and Nikolas Cruz.

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Hey, can I borrow your keys? I left my gun in the staff bathroom again.

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Hey, can I borrow your keys? I left my gun in the staff bathroom again.

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Hey, can I borrow your keys? I left my gun in the staff bathroom again.
— Scott Bayer #THEBOOKCHAT co-founder (@Lyricalswordz) February 21, 2018

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Hey, can I borrow your keys? I left my gun in the staff bathroom again.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Hey, can I borrow your keys? I left my gun in the staff bathroom again.

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Hey, can I borrow your keys? I left my gun in the staff bathroom again.

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Trump open to improving background checks

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Trump open to improving background checks

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https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/19/politics/trump-background-checks-florida/index.html

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed stricter gun-control measures Thursday, including raising the minimum age to 21 for possessing a broader range of weapons than at present. He tweeted his strongest stance as president one day after an emotional White House session where students and parents poured out wrenching tales of lost lives and pleaded for action.

Trump said on Twitter, "I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks!" The president did not immediately offer more details.

Trump's focus on gun violence came as leaders of the National Rifle Association offered a vigorous defence of gun rights during the Conservative Political Action Conference, urging enhanced -- and armed -- security at schools.

"Evil walks among us and God help us if we don't harden our schools and protect our kids," said NRA Executive Vice-President and CEO Wayne LaPierre. "The whole idea from some of our opponents that armed security makes us less safe is completely ridiculous."

The NRA officials didn't address whether the federal government should raise the age limit for young adults to buy weapons, accusing Democrats and media outlets of exploiting the Florida shooting.

"Many in legacy media love mass shootings, you guys love it," said NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch at CPAC. "Now I'm not saying that you love the tragedy, but I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold."

The current federal minimum age for buying or possessing handguns is 21, but the limit is 18 for rifles including assault-type weapons such as the AR-15 used by a former student in last week's attack on a Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff members.

A White House official said the president was not endorsing or ruling out any specific policy.

In another tweet, Trump repeated his urgent call for trained teachers or others in schools to carry guns as a deterrent to attacks.

"If a potential 'sicko shooter' knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won't go there...problem solved. Must be offensive, defence alone won't work!" Trump tweeted.

He has previously expressed an interest in efforts to strengthen the federal background check system. It was not clear if he would back closing loopholes that permit loose private sales on the internet and at gun shows.

The National Rifle Associated on Wednesday quickly rejected any talk of raising the age for buying long guns to 21.

"Legislative proposals that prevent law-abiding adults aged 18-20 years old from acquiring rifles and shotguns effectively prohibits them for purchasing any firearm, thus depriving them of their constitutional right to self-protection," the group said in a statement.

Trump, despite his new push for at least some gun-control changes, stressed his backing for the NRA on Thursday, tweeting that "the folks who work so hard at the ΓåòNRA are Great People and Great American Patriots. They love our Country and will do the right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

On Wednesday, Trump listened intently at the White House as students described the horror of the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. The students and their parents appealed to him to press for stricter gun controls.

"I turned 18 the day after" the shooting, said tearful student Samuel Zeif. "Woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. And I don't understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war. An AR. How is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? How do we not stop this after Columbine? After Sandy Hook?"

Trump promised to be "very strong on background checks." And he indicated he supported allowing some teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons to be ready for intruders.

The president had invited the teen survivors of school violence and parents of murdered children in a show of his resolve against gun violence in the wake of last week's shootings in Florida and in past years at schools in Connecticut and Colorado.

Trump asked his guests to suggest solutions and solicited feedback. He did not fully endorse any specific policy solution, but pledged to take action and expressed interest in widely differing approaches.

He largely listened, holding handwritten notes bearing his message to the families. "I hear you" was written in black marker.

Besides considering concealed carrying of weapons by trained school employees, a concept he has endorsed in the past, he said he planned to go "very strongly into age, age of purchase." And he said he was committed to improving background checks and working on mental health.

Most in the group Wednesday were emotional but quiet and polite.

But Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed last week, noted the previous school massacres and raged over his loss, saying this moment isn't about gun laws but about fixing the schools.

"It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it and I'm pissed. Because my daughter, I'm not going to see again," said Pollack. "King David Cemetery, that is where I go to see my kid now."

A strong supporter of gun rights, Trump has nonetheless indicated in recent days that he is willing to consider ideas not in keeping with National Rifle Association orthodoxy, including age restrictions for buying assault-type weapons. Still, gun owners are a key part of his base of supporters.

The people assembled for the White House meeting on Wednesday included parents of students killed in massacres at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. Students and parents from the Washington area also were present.

Trump later tweeted that he would "always remember" the meeting. "So much love in the midst of so much pain. We must not let them down. We must keep our children safe!!"

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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin, Ken Thomas and Sadie Gurman contributed from Washington. Marc Levy contributed from Harrisburg and Alina Hartounian from Phoenix.

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Trump endorses raising minimum age to 21 for more weapons

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed stricter gun-control measures Thursday, including raising the minimum age to 21 for possessing a broader range of weapons than at present. He tweeted his strongest stance as president one day after an emotional White House session where students and parents poured out wrenching tales of lost lives and pleaded for action.

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Florida school shooting: Details emerge in timeline, what we know about suspect | ABC News