Parkland Survivors Start Never Again Movement

February 14 is a day to celebrate the love we have for one another, and to spread happiness, but this Valentine’s Day was different for the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. As their day filled with love and joy progressed, before the bell rang to dismiss the students, a tragedy took place. A shooting, killing 17 people and injuring 14. Four days later, students at the high school began the “Never Again” movement to raise awareness for the shootings going on, and to hopefully put an end to these events.

“We would like to know why do we have to be the ones to do this?” Marjory Stoneman Douglas senior Ryan Deitsch said in an interview with CNN. “Why do we have to speak out to the (state) Capitol? Why do we have to march on Washington, just to save innocent lives?”

During a press conference at the White House, President Trump suggested teachers who have had special training should carry firearms, because “they could end the attack very quickly.” The teenagers leading the “Never Again” Movement feel that if nothing is being said, if no awareness is being brought to these shootings, then nothing will be done to help prevent them.

“I just want people to understand what happened and understand that doing nothing will lead to nothing,” survivor Cameron Kasky said with The New Yorker.

Talk about gun control has become more prevalent in the media. 17-year-old Jaclyn Corin who survived the shooting posted on Instagram the morning after: “please contact your local and state representatives, as we must have stricter gun laws immediately.”

“How many schools, how many children have to get shot?” father of a victim Andrew Pollack said with The New York Times. “It stops here, with this administration and me, because I’m not going to sleep until it’s fixed.”

Whether gun control becomes stricter, or not, the lives lost – in not only this shooting, but the many other shootings before – are remembered.