A Democrat from a deeply red state, Jones has his eye fixed on the middle of the political spectrum and hopes the gun debate can be a harbinger of greater bipartisan efforts on other issues.

“I’m the kind of person that believes especially in an issue like this, if we can make any progress … it opens the door to so many others,” he said. “We got to get something done, don’t get me a list of things that have to be done … let’s not cut our nose to spite our face. I went into the Senate with my eyes open about partisan politics … but I think we are moving in a way that gets things done.”

In the weeks following the massacre, many of the student survivors at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School went on television and radio shows advocating stricter gun control laws. Some now have hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers.

Conservative pundits have cried foul at their often aggressive tactics on television, such as when one student confronted Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio at a CNN town hall.

“I think they’re going have a huge impact. I felt like .. we may have reached that tipping point with not only regard to firearms but to school safety,” Jones said. “People look at the tragedy and say its the tragedy that all of a sudden called us to action. [But] we’ve never had a group of students like we have at Parkland.”