‘People Continually End Up Dead’
High school senior Emma Gonzalez blasted Republican lawmakers, the NRA, and President Trump for repeatedly refusing to take action to end school shootings when “people continually end up dead.” Gonzalez delivered a powerful and passionate speech at a Fort Lauderdale rally Saturday afternoon, just three days after her a 19-year old man known to law enforcement used an military-style assault weapon to shoot to death 17 of her classmates and faculty members from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
“Maybe the adults have got used to saying, ‘It is what it is,'” Gonzalez said. “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.”
After reading one of President Trump’s tweets to the crowd she responded, saying, “We know that they’re claiming that there are mental health issues and I am not a psychologist but we need to pay attention to the fact that this isn’t just a mental health issue.â€
“How about we stop blaming the victims for something that was the shooter’s fault?” she continued.
“If the president wants to come up to me and tell me it was a terrible tragedy snd should never have happened, and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association,” Gonzalez told the crowd, to loud cheering.
“We certainly do not understand why it should be harder to make plans with friends on weekends than to buy an automatic or semiautomatic weapon,” she told the gun control supporters.Â
Gonzalez attacked Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley for sponsoring a law making it easier for people living with mental health challenges to acquire guns.
She also repeated common false claims Republicans use to support their lack of action, and to all repeatedly said: “We call BS!”
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Hat tip: Raw Story