Teen Who Survived Shooting Says Lawmakers ‘Need To Look In The Mirror’

A teen who survived Wednesday’s shooting at a South Florida high school has had enough — and he’s calling on lawmakers to make actual changes.

Senior David Hogg, 17, narrowly escaped injury in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. He told KTRK that he and dozens of his classmates were unknowingly walking in a hallway toward the shooter when a janitor led them in a different direction. A teacher opened her classroom door, and allowed them inside to hide.

Hogg’s sister however, who is a freshmen, lost two of her closest friends.

“That’s not acceptable,” Hogg told CNN. “That is something we should not let happen in this country, especially when we’re going to school.”

Hogg pointed out that the slaughter was the 18th U.S. school shooting in 2018 — just 45 days into the year.

“We need to dig out of this hole,” Hogg continued. “There is something seriously wrong here. And some of our policymakers need to look in the mirror and take some action, because without action, ideas stay ideas and children die.”

Hogg is not alone in his frustration. After political leaders, including President Donald Trump, offered “prayers and condolences” to victims and their families on social media Wednesday night, another student angrily demanded restrictions on guns:

Not all students at the school shared the opinion.

“Gun-wise, I don’t think there’s any way to prevent it,” senior Brandon Minoff told MSNBC’s Brian Williams. “You outlaw guns, it just creates higher demand for it,” he said. “I think it has to do with mental health, though.”

Minoff’s argument echoed one pushed by GOP lawmakers and Trump, who didn’t even mention guns in remarks about the massacre on Thursday.

After a gunman opened fire on Texas churchgoers in November, killing 26 people, Trump said it wasn’t “a guns situation.”

“This is a mental health problem at the highest level,” he said. “It’s a very, very sad event.”

In March 2017, Trump signed a law that overturned an Obama-era rule that made it more difficult for people with mental illness to gain access to guns. The signing, with no cameras present, was applauded by the National Rifle Association.

Trump’s new proposed budget cuts millions of dollars from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which gun dealers use to clear gun purchasers.