Students in the United States are seeking a change in the gun laws following the tragic high school shooting in Parkland, Florida last week.

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The White House

The students in the Washington D.C area held a protest outside the White House on Monday, February 19, to convince lawmakers to reform gun laws.

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A high school junior named Hollis Cutler who spoke to ABC said they wanted the appropriate authorities and lawmakers to know that the younger generation is getting much more involved in the matter of gun laws.

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The protest was organized by the ‘Teens for Gun Reform’ group. To further drive home their message, 17 students laid on the ground for three minutes in front of the White House to symbolize 17 people who lost their lives during the shooting.

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The group asks for a more extensive background check to be done on anyone who wants to purchase a gun. They added that they were not doing this in support of any particular party. Their goal is for both parties to come together to make a plan that would bring an end to such devastating occurrences.

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More calls for gun reforms

Since the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the issue of gun violence has been raised, and many believe that it’s only through the implementation of stricter laws that this problem will be eliminated.

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17-year-old David Hogg, a student of the school who spoke to the press, issued a powerful plea to politicians. He urged them to do something to ensure kids stopped dying in the schools.

Powerful plea from a student who survived the Parkland shooting, David Hogg: “Please! We are children. You guys are, like…the adults. Take action, work together, come over your politics, and get something done.” pic.twitter.com/UcTNungORp

— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) February 15, 2018

What Trump thinks

In one of his first posts following the incident, Donald Trump opined that Nikolas Cruz could be stopped.

So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2018

Subsequent statements on the matter made it clear that the US president believes that dealing with mental health issues is the way to go to reduce the chances of such tragedies.