Parkland students: 'We will not be silenced' on guns

Survivors of last week’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., emerged from meetings with state lawmakers in Tallahassee, Fla., on Wednesday vowing to continue their movement until U.S. lawmakers enact stricter gun laws.

Alfonso Calderon, a junior at Stoneman Douglas, warned critics who have dismissed the “Never Again” campaign as a knee-jerk reaction by traumatized kids.

“A lot of people think that that disqualifies us from even having an opinion on this sort of matter,” Calderon said. “It’s that because we’ve been through a traumatic experience that we don’t know what we’re talking about, that we’re speaking irrationally. I want everybody to remember, that is not the case. We, more than anybody else, understand the violence, when it comes to certain guns. We, more than anybody else, understand what it feels like to lose somebody. We, more than anybody else, know what it’s like to have a beautiful community like Parkland and have it taken away from us.”
“Trust me, I understand,” Calderon continued. “I was in a closet locked for four hours with people who I would consider almost family, crying and weeping on me, begging for their lives. I understand what it’s like to text my parents, ’Goodbye.


SOURCE: YAHOO NEWS