Student slams Trump for ties with gun body
Fort Lauderdale, Feb. 18: A student survivor of the Parkland school shooting called out US President Donald Trump on Sunday over his ties to the powerful National Rifle Association, in a poignant address to an anti-gun rally in Florida.
“To every politician taking donations from the NRA, shame on you!” said Emma Gonzalez, assailing Trump over the multi-milliondollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby -- and prompting the crowd to chant in turn: “Shame on you!”
Wednesday's massacre, which claimed 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, has fuelled urgent calls for an end to the national deadlock over gun control -- with a string of shooting survivors rallying behind the cause. The gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, was able to legally buy an assault rifle despite a history of troubling and violent behavior. In Washington, however, the political response has made clear that the powerful NRA pro-gun lobby remains formidable, while Trump himself suggested the root cause of mass shootings was a crisis of mental health -- making no mention of gun control. "If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and... how nothing is going to be done about it, Im going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association," said Gonzalez. "It doesnt matter because I already know. Thirty million," she told the rally attended by fellow students, parents and local officials, citing the sum spent by the NRA to support Trumps election bid and defeat Hillary Clinton.