Students return to school after shooting

MIAMI: Students and teachers returned to a Florida school for the first time since 17 people were shot dead there, consoling each other even as they called for swift action to address gun violence.

“Imagine (being) in a plane crash and then having to get on the same plane every day and fly somewhere else. It’s never going to be the same,” David Hogg, a survivor of the February 14 shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school, told ABC channel.

The school held a voluntary “orientation” on Sunday, with teachers and staff due back starting Monday and classes resuming on Wednesday -- a prospect described as “daunting” and “scary,” but which is also a step for survivors to move forward after the attack.

GUN LOBBY NRA PUSHES AGAINST ‘ANY BAN’

The National Rifle Association has pushed back on Sunday against modest proposals by President Donald Trump and other Republicans to change US gun laws.

The powerful gun lobby group does not support Trump’s proposals to raise the age limit for buying certain types of guns and to ban bump stocks that enable semi-automatic rifles to shoot hundreds of rounds a minute, a spokeswoman told ABC. “The NRA doesn’t back any ban,” Dana Loesch said. Trump was endorsed by the NRA in his presidential election campaign and trumpets his support for Americans’ constitutional right to own guns.