Tallahassee, Florida (CNN) The Florida state House on Tuesday rejected a ban on many semiautomatic guns and large capacity magazines as dozens of survivors of last week's school shooting headed to the state Capitol to turn their grief into political action.

Lawmakers voted down a motion to consider the ban during a session that opened with a prayer for the 17 people killed by a former student last Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The vote in the Republican-dominated body was 36-71.

Stoneman Douglas students in the gallery of the Capitol during the vote appeared stunned.

"It was just so heartbreaking to see how many (voters') names were up there, especially after it was my school," Sheryl Acquaroli, a 16-year-old junior from Stoneman Douglas, who was crying, later told "Anderson Cooper 360˚." "It seemed almost heartless how they immediately pushed the button to say no."

Spencer Blum, one of her schoolmates, said he felt like lawmakers weren't representing him and other survivors of the shooting.

Read More