Voicesof change The Great Gun Debate

THE GREAT GUN DEBATE

As a grieving community struggles to heal months after a gunman murdered and maimed 34 people in Parkland, outraged voices continue to create a space to discuss the change needed to stop the carnage. Some target the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment, advocating for gun restrictions and bans on automatic weapons. Others say the answer is to harden schools and hold those in power accountable for breakdowns in the system. As the Great Gun Debate has raged on, more innocents have died in mass shootings at a school in Texas, a newspaper in Maryland, a synagogue in Pittsburgh, a bar in California.

Debbie Hixon

Debbie Hixon wants to be part of the change to prevent more gun violence after her husband, Chris, the school’s popular athletic director, was killed in the shooting. She says this issue is not about politics. “We should want to not see innocent people for no reason being gunned down. I just don’t understand how we think that that's OK?”

Annika & Mitch Dworet

Florida Gov. Rick Scott called Annika and Mitch Dworet after their son Nicholas, 17, was killed and his brother, Alexander, 15, was injured in the massacre. Mitch told the governor that the AR-15 needs to be banned. “This isn’t about the Second Amendment. This is about an assault weapon, a weapon of war, that tore up this school.”

Anthony Borges

After he was shot five times while barricading a door to shield 20 classmates during the massacre, Anthony Borges, 15, yearns to play soccer. Borges has endured nine surgeries after bullets from an AR-15 ripped into his lungs, abdomen and legs. “To think about that moment is difficult. It’s not easy to heal.”

Omari Allen

Omari Allen, of the nonprofit Brady Campaign & Center To Prevent Gun Violence, says we must have many voices at the table when talking about the Second Amendment and what gun rights mean in today’s diverse world. “In the African American community, the Constitution was not always our best friend.”

Manuel Oliver

Manuel Oliver says he didn’t just lose his son, Joaquin, 17, in the Parkland shooting, he lost his best friend. Using art as his activism, Oliver creates provocative murals and sculptures to save other kids from gun violence. “There is something very dirty behind all this. I think that the NRA should not be in any way attached to any politician.”

Samantha Grady

Samantha Grady’s best friend, Helena Ramsay, saved her life by telling her to hold up a book to block the hail of bullets coming into their classroom. “I’d never really heard live gunshots before in my life,” Grady says. Ramsey, 17, died in the shooting. “I just remember the happiness and all the good moments.”

Lauren Hogg

Lauren Hogg, 15, who lost four friends in the shooting, says people incorrectly think the March for Our Lives movement is about taking away people’s guns. That’s just “not feasible,” she says. “A lot of our parents actually do own guns. But we’re for responsible gun ownership.”

Lori Alhadeff

“I never thought Alyssa would be shot in her English class as she tried to learn,” Lori

Alhadeff says. “I’m not going to sit back and wait for this to happen again. I’m going to fight trying to make change.” Alhadeff was elected to the Broward County School Board in August, running on a platform of school safety.

Tom & Gena Hoyer

Tom and Gena Hoyer say the 17 Parkland families who lost loved ones came together to support school safety, access to mental-health services and responsible firearm ownership. “If one thing had worked we wouldn’t be sitting here. I’d be with Luke,” Gena says of her late son. “Somewhere along the line, somebody could have done something,” Tom says.

Adam Alhanti

Marjory Stoneman Douglas senior Adam Alhanti, 18, a founding member of the March for Our Lives movement, says voting is now being celebrated in high school. “The definition of becoming 18 has drastically changed” since the tragedy. “We’re starting to see kids … making a difference in their community and making the change they want to see when they grow up.”

Tony & Jennifer Montalto

As Tony and Jennifer Montalto mourn their daughter, Gina, 14, a talented artist who adored books, they say a holistic approach is needed to solve the problem as outlined at StandWithParkland.org. “We need everyone coming together as an American family to prevent this from happening ever again,” Tony says.

Sophia Rothenberg

After Jaime Guttenberg died, Marjory Stoneman Douglas freshman Sophia

Rothenberg and two friends made thousands of MSD bracelets, raising more than $150,000 for victims through 3HeartStrings.org. “My friend, she’s not here anymore. I need to do everything I can to help her family and help all the other families.”

Andrew Pollack

Andrew Pollack’s only daughter, Meadow, 18, was preparing to attend Lynn University in Boca Raton. After she was murdered in her classroom, the Parkland father began crusading for school safety. “After every shooting, people talk about the Second Amendment. Schools are wide open still today. Anyone could walk into a school today with a weapon...unless the ones, the schools that have metal detectors.”