Parkland shooting survivors, at NJ rally, talk of 'fighting for change' of gun laws

Four students who survived the shootings this month in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, addressed a standing-room-only rally in Livingston on Sunday, urging people to use their votes and voices to change the world so that schools are safe from gun violence.

"This is not a Republican or a Democrat issue," said David Hogg, a senior at the high school. "This is an issue of lives."

Hogg, 18, described hearing the pop of a gunshot while he was in an environmental science class that Wednesday afternoon and then running to flee the gunman. He hid in a closet with 65 other students.

"I realized I could have died," he said.

When the students emerged and knew they had survived, he said, their relief "was insane. ... That's why we're fighting for change. Because I'm here, I'm alive, and we have to do something to change this."

Joining Hogg were his younger sister, Lauren, 14, a freshman at the school; Harris Jaffe, a Parkland sophomore who was born in Livingston; and brothers Ryan and Matthew Deitsch, ages 18 and 20. Ryan was at the school during the attack and Matthew is a recent graduate.

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Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez gave the keynote address at the rally, which drew more than 2,000 people to Temple B'nai Abraham. He held up a piece of legislation he has sponsored in each of the three previous sessions of Congress, to ban high-capacity magazines. It has never passed.

Citing the numerous pieces of legislation he has supported to limit gun violence, Menendez said, "I’ve always aspired to get a good grade, but I am very proud of my longtime F from the NRA." The National Rifle Association gives lawmakers ratings based on their support for the organization's position.

Menendez said the voices of the Parkland students have changed the tone of the national debate.

"The people of Parkland have pricked the conscience of the country," Menendez said. "It’s time we call on everyone in Washington, Democrat and Republican alike, to be braver, to be stronger, just like the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. ... This time it will be different. We will not take 'no' for an answer."

The Parkland shooting was the 17th school shooting and fourth mass shooting this year, said Brett Sabo, head of the New Jersey chapter of Moms Demand Action, a group advocating laws to prevent gun violence.

Matthew Deitsch shared personal stories of some of those who died. A Junior ROTC student, Peter Wang, saved more than 60 students by holding a door open as bullets "rained down on him," he said. Peter's dream was to be attend West Point, and at his memorial service, two West Point officials presented his family with a posthumous appointment to the class of 2025.

Many in the audience dabbed tears as they listened.

Harris Jaffe, a 16-year-old sophomore, said his "whole world flipped upside down" on Feb. 14, when he heard shots while sitting in a finance class. Initially, students thought it was a drill. But as they hid in closets and checked their cellphones, they read news reports that it was real.

"To all you high schoolers out there," Jaffe said, "say 'I love you' to your parents. You don't know when something is going to happen."

The students are fanning out across the country to take their message to as many groups as possible. They have called for a March for Our Lives to be held in Washington, D.C., and in 700 other cities around the nation on March 24, Ryan Deitsch said.

Before the program, they met with New Jersey high school students who are organizing a march in Newark as part of that effort.

Among them were Zach Dougherty, 16, of Toms River and Olivia Hirsch, 15, of South Orange, who attends Columbia High School. "We want to find new ways to take action," Hirsch said.

Students at her school are planning a separate walkout on March 14 that is to last 17 minutes — one minute for each person killed at Parkland.

The youngest student to speak was Lauren Hogg, 14. "Although this may be one of the darkest times in my life," she said, "I’ve realized in the last few days that even the smallest light can make a world of change."

She thanked everyone who attended, "on behalf of my four friends who passed that day."

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Parkland students have traveled to the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee and met with President Donald Trump at the White House, demanding that politicians take action to keep schools safe.

They also appeared in a CNN town hall, where they pressed Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to say he would stop accepting money from the National Rifle Association and vote to ban AR-15s, the type of assault rifle used in the Parkland killings.

Parkland's seniors, born the year of the Columbine High School shooting, have grown up aware of the possibility of school shootings, with drills to practice how to hide in the event of a shooter.

Their tweets have gained a following. Michelle Obama expressed her support for their campaign, and Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney each pledged on Twitter to contriute contribute $500,000 to their efforts.

"David Hogg and his surviving classmates will lead the way," tweeted Lawrence Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard University. "This children's crusade will transform America."