Gun safety advocates didn’t let a driving rainstorm cloud their messaging.
On Friday, dozens huddled under tents outside Sen. Marco Rubio’s South Florida office demanding he and his fellow Republicans move on gun safety laws, like closing loopholes on background checks, and also creating background checks to buy ammunition.
“Why in God’s name can somebody who is 18 buy an AR-15?” shouted one speaker.
The mother of a teenager who was shot and killed directed her comments to elected officials.
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“For the lawmakers, you are fathers and mothers yourself, how dare you not have some compassion or do something?” she said.
David Hogg, who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland in 2018, was one of the speakers.
“I don’t want kids to have to go out there, like I had to with my classmates, to advocate for something that never should’ve happened to us,” Hogg said. “The adults should be the adults and do their damn job and the kids should be kids and do their job and go to recess."
Rubio didn’t meet with protestors and made no comment about the activity outside his office.
His spokesman referred reporters to the Senator’s Twitter post on Thursday, where he urged the passage of two bills he supports: a threat assessment measure to identify dangerous people and another item that would allow police to intervene before threats lead to murder.
Florida’s gun laws changed after the MSD shooting.
The state established a Red Flag Law, permitting authorities to take guns away from people deemed mentally ill.
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The law also requires an officer to be on campus at every school.
State lawmakers also raised the age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21 years old.
In a primetime speech to the nation Thursday night, President Joe Biden urged congress to take action.
“This isn’t about taking anyone’s rights,” said the President. “It’s about protecting our freedom to go to school, to a grocery store, to a church without being shot and killed.”
