Campaign Responds to Shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida

First and foremost, our thoughts are with the Parkland community and those families impacted by today’s unspeakable tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

It has been reported that the shooter used an AR-15 or variant, a military-style assault weapon with high capacity magazines.  This type of weapon was also used in previous mass shootings, including Aurora, Colorado; Newtown, Connecticut; San Bernardino, California; Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Oregon; Sutherland Springs, Texas; and Las Vegas, Nevada.

In America, our schools must be havens for learning where students can feel safe and not have to worry about being gunned down in their own classrooms or on the playground. Our administrators, teachers, and staff also need to feel safe and should not have to serve as a line of defense from people carrying weapons of war intent on mass destruction.  And, our parents should not have to worry if their kids are coming home at the end of the day.

We do not want to hear our state and federal officials offering their thoughts and prayers for this latest tragedy – we want action now!  Military-style assault weapons and hi-capacity magazines have no place in civilian society and are only designed to kill and injure large numbers of people in a short period of time.  We cannot allow the daily carnage in our country to be the new normal.  Congress and various state legislatures (including Florida) must act now to ban military-style assault weapons and hi-capacity magazines.”