JUDY WOODRUFF: Calls for action after the school shooting in Florida.
In Tallahassee and around the country today, students and supporters appealed for an end
to the bloodshed.
William Brangham begins our coverage.
PROTESTER: What do we want?
PROTESTERS: Change!
PROTESTER: When do we want it?
PROTESTERS: Now!
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The chants began as soon as about 100 of the school shooting survivors
arrived at the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee today.
PROTESTERS: Never again!
Never again!
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: From there, they moved inside to lobby the Republican-run legislature for
some stronger gun control.
ALFONSO CALDERON, Shooting Survivor: Please, I beg and I demand that every single person
in power who has the ability to change the fear that kids feel going back to school,
that they do something.
DELANEY TARR, Shooting Survivor: No longer can you take money from the NRA, no longer
can you fly under the radar doing whatever it is that you want to do, because we are
coming after you.
We are coming after every single one of you and demanding that you take action, demanding
that you make a change.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The crowds outside the capitol grew to thousands for a midday rally.
There, they heard an outpouring of anger and grief over the killing of 17 at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School one week ago today.
RACHEL CATANIA, Shooting Survivor: How many more innocent people have to die before we
make a change?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
RACHEL CATANIA: A change is overdue.
And we are the change.
When children act like leaders and leaders act like children, you know something is about
to change.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: These student activists had traveled more than 400 miles, from Parkland
in South Florida, to press for a range of solutions.
One student called for a ban on semiautomatic weapons like the AR-15 rifle used in the massacre.
CHRISTINE YARED, Shooting Survivor: The only purpose of an assault weapon like this is
to kill and to kill as many people as possible.
The AR-15 is not a self-defense weapon.
It is rightly so-called an assault weapon.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: A day earlier, the Florida Statehouse voted against taking up a bill
to ban assault weapons.
Today, the Democrat who called for that bill to be debated made an impassioned plea for
the students to keep up their fight.
MAN: You are the cavalry we have been waiting for.
So, to you, let's do it!
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Across the country, thousands of students heed that call, walking out of
classes and chanting slogans demanding tougher gun control.
In Washington, D.C., hundreds massed outside the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
Inside the executive mansion, President Trump held a listening session with high school
students and teachers, among them, some who survived the Parkland attack, as well as others
from school shootings at Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 and at Columbine High School in Colorado
in 1999.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We're going to be very strong on background
checks.
We will be doing very strong background checks, very strong emphasis on the mental health
of somebody.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The president heard emotional appeals from both students and parents in
the group.
SAMUEL ZEIF, Shooting Survivor: How is it that easy to buy this type of weapon?
How did we not stop it after Columbine, after Sandy Hook?
ANDREW POLLACK, Father of Shooting Victim: It should have been one school shooting and
we should have fixed it.
And I'm pissed, because my daughter, I'm not going to see again.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Until now, the president has been a staunch supporter of gun rights.
Last year, he signed a law that eliminated an Obama era regulation which made it harder
for some mentally ill people to get guns.
The rule said that anyone receiving Social Security benefits for mental illness and who
had also been ruled incapable of handling their own finances would be blocked from purchasing
weapons.
The president signed the law reversing that rule last February.
Mr. Trump has also repeatedly maintained his allegiance to the National Rifle Association.
Last April, he addressed the NRA's leadership forum in Atlanta.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: You came through for me, and I am going to
come through for you.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that, during the 2016 election,
the NRA spent $30 million to support Mr. Trump and oppose Hillary Clinton.
During one of the presidential debates, candidate Trump argued that strict gun laws don't actually
reduce gun violence.
DONALD TRUMP: In Chicago, which has the toughest gun laws in the United States, probably you
could say by far, they have more gun violence than any other city.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But, yesterday, amid the outcry over Parkland, the president appeared
to soften his stance.
DONALD TRUMP: Just a few moments ago, I signed a memorandum directing the attorney general
to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Democrats like Senator Dianne Feinstein of California urged the president
to support her legislation banning bump stocks and to encourage his fellow Republicans to
stop blocking it.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders also said the president is open to improving federal
background checks and possibly setting a minimum age for buying AR-15-type rifles.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The president also said today that letting trained school workers carry
weapons meantime, make attackers think twice and, in his words, solve the problem.