As we all know, there was a school shooting last month
in Parkland, Florida, and the response from the students
has captured the attention of the nation.
Joining me now to talk about where America goes from here
are students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Please welcome Elijah, Josh, Kai, Thomas, and Carly.
(cheering and applause)
Welcome, everybody.
Welcome to the show.
Um...
you folks have been at school for a few weeks now,
post-the shooting.
Is there a general shared mood amongst the students
or would you say that there's different levels of grief,
uh, in the classroom? Carly?
I think there's different levels of grief,
but it's overall supportive.
Like, if you see someone crying, even someone you don't know,
like, y-you feel comfortable enough to be there for them
-and be there for everyone. -Right.
Is-is that something you've seen post-the-the shooting?
Is it a school, as a whole, where people have had to go,
like, "We are suffering through something,
"we are in pain, and-and, at the same time,
-we have to overcome that"? -Yeah. -Most definitely.
-Yeah. -Not really overcome though but more get through it,
'cause I don't think we're ever gonna overcome that completely,
but just...
-support everyone, really. -Right.
It's interesting that you say "not overcome but get through."
For many Americans,
this school shooting was one of the school shootings.
It was, unfortunately, another school shooting.
And for many Americans, people say the same thing--
"I never thought it would happen to me."
Thomas, you are in school.
You are living your life, and, all of a sudden,
there's a shooting.
Do you, in that moment, think that it's not real
and were you able to process what was happening
when it was... when it was going down?
I definitely didn't think it was real
for, like, probably the first half hour,
until I heard one of my friends was actually shot.
So I-I was just thinking it was a drill or some...
I guess, yeah, a drill. For, like, the first half hour
of, uh, just sitting in the auditorium.
And then, uh, when I found out, I... it-it did sort of click
that this is real, this is really happening.
But even then, like, going b...
like, seeing the school on the news and all that,
it's like, "That's my school."
It doesn't feel like it's my school.
It doesn't feel like it happened in my community.
Yet I-I do know that I-I could process immediately
-that it did happen. -Right.
And it's interesting that you say that--
it feels like it isn't your school.
Does it feel like, in some ways,
people have taken your school thing?
I mean, many people have joined in with Marjory Stoneman High.
People have gone, "This is the story of America."
Do you still feel like it's-it's your story
or has it become, like, a national movement?
So, partly, I feel like it is still our story,
because it-it did happen here.
It's like we see that building every day. We know...
We lost 17 people.
But, at the same time, it's like the entire nation's
sort of taken it upon themselves to better the system
-and fix what happened, like, -Right.
make sure that never happens again.
I feel like it's-it's a little bit of both, yeah.
Right. When you went back into school, Kai,
for the first time, post-the shooting,
what were some of the thoughts
that were going through your mind?
Well, like-like Thomas said,
I couldn't believe that I was going back to...
You know, people called us the new Columbine.
That-that would... We actually surpassed Columbine.
So to be a-a member and a student in that school
that surpassed Columbine is just...
you don't want to be that kid.
You don't want to be the kid who went to the next Columbine.
-Right. -And we all just had to come together
and basically just sit down as one family.
And all of our friends and even people we weren't friends with
sat down together, and we bonded.
You went from being a school
where there was a terrible tragedy,
and over what seemed like a span of, you know, overnight,
you became a message of hope.
People were rallying behind you as a school.
Elijah, why do you think your school
and the students involved in the shooting
were able to mobilize so many people towards doing something?
That's a good question.
Um, I believe that deals with our spirit as equals,
as students here.
We have always been taught, since early age,
that: Be the change you wish to see in the... in the world.
As a matter of fact, that is, um...
lettered on the, uh, exit of our school
through the red gates.
We see that every day we walk out.
And, really, this message has been so ingrained within us,
and so emphasized, that we really wanted to...
just make a change to make sure that this does not happen again.
Right. And that's been... that's been, I think,
one of the biggest... questions of where to go from here.
Everyone says: How do you make this not happen again?
And that's where it feels like everyone reaches a deadlock.
Even in the school, not everyone is on the same page.
Carly, on your side, you have your views,
and a lot of the students do.
What would you hope to see going forward
to try and stop something like this from happening again?
I'd hope to see gun control ultimately.
I don't know exactly how to stop people from being killed,
but I feel like gun control is a way to limit
the amount of shootings that are happening.
-Right. -'Cause it's happening all too... frequently.
And in your opinion, like I say,
there's no right or wrong answer, but, like,
do you have a sense of what that gun control would be?
I mean, you're not the lawmaker, and so I don't think anyone
should expect that answer from you per se.
But do you even think, just looking at the information,
that you would go, "There's something that I...
that I think we should or shouldn't have as a nation"?
I think assault weapons aren't necessary
to have in the hands of a civilian,
because they're just used to kill people, really.
They're not used to go hunting, and it doesn't protect yourself
in the case of... you need to protect yourself.
-Right. -So I feel like an assault weapon
is just not necessary.
And I think you shouldn't be able to get guns
until you're 21.
And also, just mental health checks,
background checks.
Just keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people,
because that's what got so many people into this situation,
-Right. -not just our school but so many other places.
You bring that up-- the mental state of people
having access to guns.
The shooter at your school,
one thing that was apparent, post the shooting,
was every single person that was interviewed said:
We knew this about him.
-Mm-hmm. -We suspected this.
It wasn't a case where people said: We don't know why.
Everyone felt like they knew why.
Could you tell me why you would say that?
Is there any particular reason
people felt like this kid was a threat to everyone else?
Well, personally, I didn't know this kid,
but I know that, like, apparently, the...
you know, the police were called to his house, like,
-something like 45 times. -Right.
There were so many warning signs.
There were two FBI tips.
Um...
and, you know, it so easily could have been prevented.
One of the things that I, like, support
is this idea of gun violence restraining orders.
They have it in place right now in, um--
I almost said Australia-- have them in place in California.
-Right. -It's basically it's, like, a due-process way,
where, like...
someone close to, like, a dangerous individual
can go to a court and, like, petition them
to have the person's weapons removed temporarily,
until they can present, you know, new evidence
that this person is a danger.
It's completely due-process, and it should have...
it has bipartisan support, and I think it would have
-definitely stopped this shooting at our school. -Right.
It's interesting that you're all high school students,
and now, in many ways, everyone in the nation
is turning to you and asking you your opinions on guns,
your opinions on gun control.
Like, how have you processed this information?
Kai, when you look at what people are asking of you,
do you think that you should be having these conversations?
Do you think that you have the ability
to have these conversations?
Like, how do you process all of this information?
Well, I think that all the people
that have had the opportunity to speak,
as well as for those that haven't,
are very capable of doing so.
We're a very well educated student body
and we represent ourselves as such.
So, you know... (stammers)
You can imagine that it's very shocking
that you're going from one moment,
you're just a regular kid, to the next moment,
you're, you know, petitioning lawmakers,
-and you're marching on Washington, -Right.
and trying to effect real change,
so overall, that whole thing
-is still very... unthinkable. -Mm-hmm.
And when you look at what you've had to do since then,
and what you've been asked to do,
do you think in some ways people have politicized your pain?
Like, when you look at
how people speak about what's happened at your school,
do you feel like some people
are only in it to further their agenda?
Is that something that bothers you?
I think people are forgetting that 17 people died,
and they're forgetting that we're grieving in a lot of this.
And, even, like, making conspiracy theories about it.
Like, we were there; we experienced it.
So it takes away from our pain,
and it just makes--
it takes away from the real topic
-of what's going on. -Right.
What would you like people to be focusing on?
I think we can focus on gun control.
We need to focus on gun control.
But we can't forget the 17 lives that were lost.
And when you look at the discussion itself,
some people say the solution to this is arming teachers.
Others say the solution
is restricting guns from younger people.
You, at this table, all go to the same school,
but you don't have the exact same views
when it comes to this.
How have you managed
to respectfully engage in these conversations
whilst disagreeing on what to do?
So, personally, not everyone does respectfully disagree.
Some people will get into a heated debate.
But, uh, most of us will-- we respect each other's opinions,
'cause we all went through this horrific event together.
So we, we all know we're all feeling pain.
We're all feeling-- maybe not even the same pain.
Some people lost multiple people that they loved.
So we respect that they're going through this.
We're all going through this, so we--
It's a general consensus, like, yeah, we respect each other.
We don't want to get into, like, a heated debate.
We don't want to hurt someone's feelings further
than they've already been hurt,
because of the events that happened.
And if you, if you look at some
of the proposals that have been put forward,
are there any that you, personally, don't agree with,
even though you're a part of this?
You-you have an experience with this.
Are there any things that you've heard of where you go like,
"I don't actually agree with that"?
So I'm not really big on the whole arming teachers.
I think, if a teacher were to be armed,
they have to be an ex vet,
and they have to be, like, super comfortable
with being armed at a school.
I don't think an ordinary teacher would even want
to be armed at a school, just because, first off,
they're not comfortable being with a gun
in class after the events.
And two, I don't think they would have it on their person,
so I don't think it would be, like, real useful.
Like, one of my teachers was saying
it'd be locked in their closet.
If a person were to come to the door with a gun,
they wouldn't be able to get to that closet
-in time to protect it. -Right.
It would be pointless to spend the money on it.
It could go to education.
-Right. -Yeah.
And, Josh, on your side,
like, I know for instance, you've said
it actually makes you feel a little bit safer
knowing that a teacher is armed.
You want to have people in the school who have guns
because then you feel like
someone who comes into the school
is less likely to do that, because they know
that there are guns there.
When you're thinking through it like that,
you feel like the person with a gun in the school
makes it safer for you?
Yeah, um, I don't...
-Like, I'm not against teachers having guns. -Right.
You know, I-I think if a teacher's trained
and they have a background and a history with it,
they should be able to bring a gun if they want to,
be completely concealed.
You know, no kid would even know they have it.
But I'm more so for having security
-and police at our school -Right.
so, like, teachers really won't have to worry about that.
And I do think it is a deterrent,
and I do think if something happens,
then they can stop it.
Like, if you look at what just happened in Maryland,
their school reso... (clears throat)
school resource officer stopped the shooter
-before he could do really much harm. -Right.
A-And if someone said to you,
"But Josh, why don't we just ban guns altogether?
"Why don't we ban these automatic weapons,
or why don't we ban handguns?"
Why does that not connect with you as a person?
I think banning guns, um...
It sounds like the easy answer, but it's really not.
Like, there's 350 million guns in the United States right now.
Like, there's absolutely no way
that people would be able to, you know, collect--
like, the government would be able to collect them all.
-Right. -And it's people's...
You know, it's people's God-given right to self defense.
You know, I don't agree with just taking that away.
Kai, on your side,
teachers having guns isn't th-the...
safe space that you would want to be in.
A teacher having a gun doesn't make you feel better.
-Why? -Well, no.
I-I... And if I'm being honest,
you know, I, uh...
I-I don't want to seem like that guy,
but, you know, me being a minority in the South
and having a teacher, you know, have a gun,
regardless of color, does not make me feel comfortable.
And even, you know, when you have,
you know, resource officers who are,
you know, taking matters into their own hands,
I don't think that lethal weapons
should have a place in the school environment.
-Right. -I-If you need to have some kind of weapon
to, you know, defend people,
-I do believe that it should be a non-lethal option. -Right.
Elijah, people are gonna be marching
in Washington, D.C.
and in many other cities around the United States.
Everyone seems to be marching for one common cause,
and that is life.
People are saying, "March for our lives."
But everyone has different idea of what that is.
What do you hope would come from this march?
Well, I hope there is a lot more attention
to the fact that, again, this is a march for lives
that resolves this multifaceted issue.
So I think this march,
with people calling upon different aspects,
such as gun control, mental health,
I want people to focus
on the fact that we need to prevent
something so atrocious from ever happening.
This is domestic terrorism, essentially,
and this is a multi-leveled issue
that requires different solutions.
It's not just one sweep-all solution.
It's not we ban all guns.
It's not we fund more mental health.
It's an all-out, uh...
-multisided solution that we require. -Right.
And before I let you go,
is there one thing you would want
the American population-- I guess everyone in the world--
to know about you that you haven't seen
people convey about you
on, you know, on TV or online?
Is there something that you feel like people are missing
about you as human beings and as students?
I think they forget that we're still in pain,
and some of us aren't ready to just go back
right into our... into our lives and to school.
And, like, we go to school,
and there is still media there every day.
There are people standing outside,
taking pictures like it's the Las Vegas sign,
and it's-it's still new for us.
It's only been a month and a half,
and we're still in pain.
Well, thank you so much for coming and joining us.
I know people will be marching with you.
You guys have motivated a nation.
Thank you very much for your time.
-Thank you. -Thanks for having us.
One more time, ladies and gentlemen.
The amazing young students from MSD High.