Florida school shooting survivors arrive in Washington for major gun control march

Survivors of last month’s school shooting in Florida have arrived in Washington ahead of this weekend’s March for Our Lives to urge members of Congress to enact stricter gun laws.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, where a shooter armed with an AR-15 rifle killed 17 people on Valentine’s Day, met with congressional leaders and prosecutors from around the country.

“We’re not trying to take away your guns. We’re trying to take back our lives,” said David Hogg, one of the student survivors and leaders of the #NeverAgain movement to push for school safety and stronger gun legislation.

“It’s not a Democrat problem. It’s not a Republican problem. It’s an American problem,” he said, according to the Guardian.

Congressional legislator and advocates also listened as Stoneman Douglas student Aalayah Eastmond described the tragic events of 14 February.

“I lost two people in my class and others were injured,” she said, according to a CBS affiliate. “No student should have to cover themselves with a deceased student, but I was that student.”

The same day, Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson introduced a federal “Red Flag” bill, which is aimed at preventing individuals who pose a danger to others from possessing firearms. Florida’s state government passed similar legislation in response to the Stoneman Douglas shooting.

The attack at the high school in Parkland, Florida has inspired an intense national debate over gun control in the US.

Last week, thousands of students across the US walked out of their classrooms to attend protests, rallies and silent sit-ins as part of an unprecedented call for action against gun violence.

On Saturday, as many as 500,000 protesters are expected to march in Washington to demand action on the issue. Similar marches will also take place in cities around the world.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said it was no surprise that young Americans were leading the movement for change.

“That has always been the way change, particularly revolutionary change, has been accomplished in this country,” said Mr Blumenthal, whose constituents include the families of victims in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

“It’s in the great American tradition that they are marching in Washington and they are marching on our consciousness. ‘Our blood, your hands’: that’s what they’re saying,” he asserted, according to the Guardian.