Students across the United States are leading protests against gun violence after a mass shooting at a Florida high school left 17 dead last week.

"Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call BS," Emma Gonzalez, who survived last Wednesday's shooting, said in during a speech on Saturday that went viral.

"They say that no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS," she added.

Gonzalez is one of many students who has taken to social media and the streets to call for stricter gun control after a gunman opened fire on students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last Wednesday, killing 17 people and injuring more than a dozen others. According to police documents, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz confessed to the shooting.

On Monday, dozens of young people and their families held a three-minute "lie-in" outside the White House to call for greater action on gun laws.

The protest was organised by Teens For Gun Reform, which was created by Washington, DC, youth in the wake of last week's shooting.

Protests in US cities across the country have echoed the calls of Gonzalez and students in Washington, DC.