My view from the Capitol lawn: Students lead a movement, find their voice

Students who survived the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School walked away from funerals and the grieving families of their slain classmates and teachers to travel to Tallahassee. By midday Wednesday, it was clear inaction on gun laws wouldn’t get a passing grade.

They came in waves made saltier with tears. The first was Monday, when Parkland students arrived in Tallahassee and immediately went to a prayer vigil. On Tuesday, they left a funeral for a 16-year-old classmate, traversing the entire state, into the waiting arms of local teens at Leon High School.

They found refuge from their pain here. They came to push change. Together. Optimistic their efforts would prevent another school shooting.

Their strife was exacerbated by House Republican lawmakers who declined to debate a bill that would ban assault weapons while they watched and cried from the gallery.

Even more students were bussed to the Capitol, starting their day at about 8 a.m. Wednesday. They weren’t planning on asking lawmakers to address gun control.

The air was less than calm as they met briefly with Rep. Sean Shaw, a Democrat from Tampa, in the Capitol Courtyard.

“We had a chance to do something and we didn't," Shaw said of Tuesday's party line vote. "That's why you're up here. Go and demand action. You're not up here to ask. This is about you. This is not about us."

As the first wave of students went into the Capitol, a couple hugged outside the front doors. The young girl held a sign that read “Enough.”

It was an embrace for enough.

In the hours before noon, the lawn of the Old Capitol began to swell with people holding signs. Some clever, some to the point. They all had a similar message.

Enough. Never again.

A few people with a few signs multiplied into thousands. Students from around the state and from Big Bend high schools joined them. Some who looked old enough to have attended Woodstock also found a place on the lawn. They lent their wisdom to the voices of youth.

More coverage from the NeverAgain rally:

► Thousands of students descend on Florida Capitol to demand gun control

► Parkland shooting could be 'tipping point' in 2018 races

► Invoking the memory of their lost classmates, Parkland students urge legislative action on guns

► A day for students to say, 'Never again' at Capitol

► FAMU students feel impact of gun violence, march to support Douglas students at Capitol

► Florida State students march for tighter gun laws

► Local athletes, coaches reflect on Douglas High shooting, #NeverAgain rally

By midmorning, a group of 65 Broward County teachers burst into the courtyard screaming for change.

“We call BS,” they yelled. “Enough is enough.”

They were here because teachers in Parkland were attending funerals Wednesday at home. Teachers stand together. They are targets, too.

At noon, the east side of the Capitol lawn was a throng of people thick with optimism that the movement, this movement, would force change.

There was a sense that the voices of the group, spearheaded by teenagers who decried the adults who had failed them, would not get lost if they all yelled loud enough.

The rally was peaceful. They didn’t need violence or meanness to get their message across. Their energy would prevail.

Stoneman Douglas students eventually joined the crowd, which had ballooned to more than 3,000, to tell their harrowing tales of hiding beneath desks and hearing what they at first thought were firecrackers. They recalled, after realizing the sounds were gunshots, wondering how many of their classmates would turn out to be dead.

Astronaut Mark Kelly spoke. He knows their pain all too well. His wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was shot during a rally in Tucson in 2011.

The road to change is long and arduous, he told the crowd. Wisdom from a man who had been in space four times. Since his wife's injury, Kelly has worked to make real changes in gun laws around the country.

When he asked the crowd how many were under 30, hands shot up across the lawn. Even more said they planned to vote in the next election.

Earlier in the day, a Lincoln High School student yelled that she and her classmates are called the laziest generation. She said it was time to prove everyone wrong.

It brought together the feeling that teenagers had found their movement. They found a way to buck the stereotypes and invest in a purpose.

They realized some of their friends no longer have voices. They now speak for those who've been silenced.

Karl Etters is the Tallahassee Democrat's crime and courts reporter and a local Tallahasseean. He can be reached at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter.