While Nelson and Deutch took their share of questions, it was Rubio whose prodding proved the most instructive. Junior Cameron Kasky, who has been an outspoken leader of a political movement of survivors of the Parkland massacre, criticized Rubio—who has received millions in contributions from the NRA and an A-Plus rating—for his ties to the organization. “In the name of 17 people, you cannot ask the NRA to keep their money out of your campaign?” Kasky asked. Rubio refused to say he’d refuse NRA money, instead saying that the power of the NRA came not from its money, but from its members who support the Second Amendment. The crowd booed, loudly.

The theme of most of the night was criticism of Rubio, who often appeared hesitant in the face of withering boos and tough questions. As the New Yorker writer Evan Osnos put it: “The pummelling of Rubio felt like an expression of collective rage at the falseness of so much that happens in Washington.” The usual rhetorical feints and misdirections employed by politicians in more milquetoast town halls only seemed to anger the crowd more.

That dynamic was exemplified in a conversation about restricting semiautomatic weapons. When asked if loopholes for purchasing such weapons should be closed, Rubio offered the answer that’s basically become the gun-rights boilerplate. “The issue is not the loopholes,” the senator said, “it’s the problem that once you start looking at how easy it is to get around it, you would literally have to ban every semi-automatic rifle that’s sold.” But the crowd cheered loudly at the suggestion of such a ban, a response that caught Rubio off guard. “Fair enough, fair enough. That is a valid position to hold,” he responded, before outlining his disagreement. But the concession was an important one.

The students and parents also pressed Loesch, who adopted a starkly different tone from the one she employs in the combative and often-hostile video ads she releases for the NRA. Emma Gonzalez, also an outspoken Stoneman Douglas student leader in the wake of the shooting, took her to task. “I want you to know that we will support your two children in the way that you will not,” Gonzalez said. She also asked Loesch if the NRA supported any restrictions on the purchase of semiautomatic weapons and modifications like bump stocks.

The debate that followed was important. Loesch did not cede much ground, but her posture was far from the usual NRA-culture-warrior’s obstinacy. Loesch tried to steer the conversation towards systems for reporting people with mental illnesses, but Gonzalez pressed her again on the NRA’s stance on making the acquisition of semiautomatic weapons more difficult in general, and on the sale of devices like bump stocks that can convert them to automatic-like systems. “Well, I think the ATF is deciding about bump stocks right now,” Loesch said. Israel, the Broward County sheriff, then interjected with his own criticism of Loesch. “You are not standing up for them until you say, ‘I want less weapons,’” he said.