(CNN)Two survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting slammed politicians' responses to the massacre, calling them "disgusting" and "pathetic" in a Monday morning appearance on CNN's "New Day."
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Emma Gonzalez, whose speech in favor of gun control went viral four days after 17 people were killed by a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, spoke out against her state's Republican senator, Marco Rubio, who has doubted that proposed gun laws would have prevented the massacre.
"They say that criminals get guns no matter what laws you have in place. That might be true, but we don't have to encourage them to get those guns," Gonzalez told CNN's Alisyn Camerota. "We can make it harder ... and we can prevent some seriously nasty crimes and some seriously indescribable tragedies from occurring. And if somebody doesn't want to do that at this point, that's pathetic."
Gonzalez's classmate, David Hogg, who has publicly called on lawmakers to "take some action" against guns in the wake of the shooting, responded similarly. "It's absolutely terrifying, the fact that he immediately got up and started talking about how gun control is not the solution. Every answer is the solution at this point because we haven't tried any of them."
Hogg also responded to President Donald Trump's tweet casting blame for the tragedy on the FBI, declaring, "I think it's disgusting, personally."
The senior then pointed out that Trump himself is in charge of the FBI.
"I do want to reiterate that the FBI were some of the amazing first responders who were helping us get to safety and the fact that he wants to discredit them in any way and that he's trying to shift our focus onto them is -- it's not acceptable," Gonzalez said.
The students also criticized the National Rifle Association and lawmakers who take money from the organization.
"Disband. Dismantle. Don't make another organization under a different name. Don't you dare come back here," Gonzalez said.
Of the politicians who receive financial contributions from the NRA, Gonzalez said, "We keep telling them that if they accept this blood money, they are against the children ... You're either funding the killers, or you're standing with the children. The children who have no money. We don't have jobs, so we can't pay for your campaign. We would hope that you have the decent morality to support us at this point."
Hogg agreed, asking, "If you can't get elected without taking money from child murderers, why are you running?"
Gonzalez went on to discuss her vision for the March 24 "March for Our Lives," an event that will see students across the country converge on Washington to say the nation can no longer wait to tackle issues of school safety and gun control reform.
"I know that the word has spread wide and far but I hope that we can even spread it even farther by that point because I know that that's going to be indescribable, but in such a positive way," she said.
In a speech on Saturday, the high school student wiped back tears and demanded that US gun laws must change. These kids are fighting for their lives
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Bump stocks were found on the Las Vegas shooter’s guns. Of course they were. If you want to kill as many people possible in a short time, they are your friend. Useful for a school shooting.
I barely registered the latest act of terror in the US. Yes, it is terror. Alienated young men; “lone wolves”; individual terrorist cells motivated by racism, misogyny, self-loathing, complete alienation, radicalised by footage of every other mass shooting. Dress it up how you like, but this terrorism has infected US society at every level. When small children are taught what to do when the inevitable “mentally disturbed” man arrives – throw things, hide in cupboards, play dead while their murdered friends’ blood pours on to them – then terror has achieved its aims. Fear. Fear becomes woven into everyday routine in an effort to domesticate it.
The narrative plays out. The aerial footage, the desperate parents, the running children, heroic teachers who throws themselves in front of the pupils. This time Scott Beigel who, when watching coverage of a different school shooting on TV, told his fiancee, Gwen: “Promise me if this ever happens to me, you will tell them the truth – tell them what a jerk I am. Don’t talk about the hero stuff.” He died at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school trying to protect the kids from the gunman.
The gunman. No names here. Let us not give these men the notoriety they lust for. Another boy, who tortured animals, was violent to women and expressed his desire to kill on online forums; pretty much the CV of every terrorist. Beating up women is, as we know, another way of terrorising people, one that is shrugged off as domestic as opposed to societal violence.
On and on it goes and Donald Trump – who used murdered children to try to take the heat off the investigation into his campaign’s Russian links – spaffs on about thoughts and prayers. The same phrase used after Sandy Hook – when we who love the US feared for its mortal soul.
But then I started watching. I saw a girl with a buzzcut, Emma González, wiping back the tears, publicly mourning her dead classmates and demanding change. I watched the footage from inside the classrooms that students had captured on their phones. I heard the screams of those about to die. I glimpsed a floral cotton dress, a flimsy desk and realised that these children are taking control of the narrative now.
And refusing it. González is in trauma, but she is organising. She and many of her classmates are directly challenging the donations of the National Rifle Association to Trump and his cronies, and his decision to scrap a regulation that kept guns out of the hands of people with severe mental illnesses.
There will be school strikes. There is resistance. These young people will not sit in classrooms any more waiting for their turn to come. They are not going to be another statistic. “We are going to be the kids you read about in textbooks,” said a weeping González. Plans have been announced for a March for Our Lives on 24 March.
As she wiped away tears, for the first time in a long time, I saw true leadership on this issue. These kids are fighting for their lives. I thought everything was broken. This girl gives me hope.
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