MIAMI – Following a series of mass shootings that have sparked national attention, the effort to reach elected leaders to talk about gun reform is mounting.
This morning, it started at Senator Marco Rubio’s office with petitions asking for change.
“This is a petition there are 600,000 signatures from Americans all over the country,” Florida Moms Demand Action group leader Lindsey Shook said.
Shook’s group and Mothers Fighting For Justice want the senator to do something.
“I lost my son just sitting at home sitting on top of a stairway by a stray bullet, so I don’t want this to become normal to my community or my families,” Romania Dukes, Mothers Fighting For Justice Founder told CBS4.
Meanwhile, outside a coalition of teachers, parents and survivors gathered to echo the message that action to prevent more shootings is necessary.
“These are our kids, these are people who go to church who went to grocery stores, who worked in a hospital, guns can’t be more important than people, and no one is asking us for us to do anything about the second amendment,” Randi Weingarten, from the American Federation of Teachers said to the crowd.
Many in attendance called for what they term reasonable gun safety regulations such as background checks, raising the age to purchase an AR-15 across the country to 21, and a limit on high-capacity magazines.
“There were good guys with guns and they only proved to be cowards with guns. We need to address how to stop a shooter from getting on campus in the first place and how to stop them from getting them from an AR-15 to begin with otherwise we’re endangering the lives of law enforcement our students and our teachers and we can’t do that, these kids are dying,” David Hogg, a former Marjorie Stoneman Douglass student and March for Our Lives Co-founder said.
For some, this discussion has reached a flashpoint.
CBS4 asked Shook what if leaders once again do nothing, she said, “Then we’ll remember in November.”
