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Kamala Harris Wins March for Our Lives' First-Ever Endorsement
"Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a thoughtful and forceful leader on gun violence, who has time and again listened to young people and fought for our lives."
Jul 24, 2024
March for Our Lives, which was launched six years ago after yet another U.S. mass shooting, announced its first-ever political endorsement on Wednesday, backing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' bid for the White House.
"The stakes couldn't be higher," said the group, which was founded in the wake of the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. "As one of the largest youth-led movements in the nation, we are clear-eyed about the challenge ahead and we believe that Kamala Harris is uniquely suited to meet this moment."
Warning of the threat posed by Republican former President Donald Trump—who just survived an assassination attempt—and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), March for Our Lives said that "the country that young people will soon inherit stands at the precipice—on one side, authoritarianism that threatens our fundamental rights, including our right to live freely without fear of gun violence; on the other, a world where we can keep fighting to build the future that young people know we deserve."
"We need an ardent defender of democracy, a gun violence prevention champion, and a leader who will listen to young people, give us a seat at the table, and fight for our future. We believe that Kamala Harris is that candidate, and the right person to stand up for us and fight for the country we deserve," the organization continued, detailing how she has been "a forceful champion for gun safety and for young people" as vice president and a U.S. senator representing California.
"Young people are inheriting an increasingly precarious world," the group added, highlighting youth deaths from gun violence, Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, the escalating climate emergency, and far-right politicians pushing extremist policies. "We have been struggling to feel excited about voting in this election, and are increasingly pessimistic that change is possible. But we know that another Trump presidency is simply not an option that young people can afford—our lives are literally at stake."
Harris began seeking the Democratic nomination for November after President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed her on Sunday. March for Our Lives said that "we call on her to run a campaign that fights for the policy solutions that young people want, like an assault weapons ban, action on climate change, a vigorous defense of abortion, court reform, and an immediate and lasting cease-fire in Gaza. Young people are savvy voters, who will see through empty promises and cynical horsetrading. We believe that Kamala will step above that and fight for a bold, progressive future—and we will hold her accountable for that."
Since Sunday, Parkland shooting survivor and March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg has been fiercely supporting Harris, posting on his social media frequent updates about her historic fundraising successes over the past few days.
"Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a thoughtful and forceful leader on gun violence, who has time and again listened to young people and fought for our lives," Hogg said in a statement Wednesday. "Given her strong record on gun safety and prioritizing youth voices during her time in office, I'm proud that Kamala Harris will receive March for Our Lives' first-ever endorsement, and I'm so excited for our work to mobilize young people for her campaign."
Natalie Fall, the group's executive director, told ABC News—which first reported on the endorsement—that "we see a lot of energy around Vice President Harris in this election; there's no denying that. I think everybody's seeing it right now."
"I just think young people in particular didn't really see themselves represented or reflected in the Biden ticket in the way that they wanted. It's not to say that President Biden hasn't had great accomplishments," she explained. "But I think we need someone who can meet this moment and who is up to the challenge of taking Donald Trump to task and really defeating his effort to erode all of our institutions and our democracy."
March for Our Lives members plan to participate in this year's election through creative campaigns, door-knocking, and phone banks, Fall said. In a statement, she added that the group aims to elect not only Harris but also candidates "up and down the ballot" who support its priorities.
"March for Our Lives will work to mobilize young people across the country to support Vice President Harris and other down-ballot candidates, with a particular focus on the states and races where we can make up the margin of victory—in Arizona, New York, Michigan, and Florida," she pledged. "We are ready to double down on this commitment and elect the first woman, first Black woman, and the first person of South Asian descent to become our next president."
Welcoming the support, Harris' campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodriguez, said that the vice president "is proud to earn this historic endorsement and she is committed to working closely with young people to end the epidemic of gun violence. Kamala Harris heads the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, and she worked for years in the Senate and as a prosecutor to keep guns out of our schools and off our streets."
"In stark contrast, Donald Trump promises to weaken regulations on guns, sides with the NRA over our children's safety, and reduced funding for public safety in every single one of his budget proposals," she added, referring to the National Rifle Association. "No one is more experienced at or more committed to stopping this senseless violence than the vice president. With the support of March for Our Lives, a powerful organizing force that has mobilized millions of young voters, Vice President Kamala Harris will win in November so that everyone has the freedom to live safe from gun violence."
The gun violence prevention group's endorsement adds to Harris' mounting pile. Throughout the week, she has also received support from many Democratic governors and members of Congress as well as climate, labor, and reproductive rights groups.
As young people rally behind Harris, she is also seeing support from advocates for older Americans. Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "Joe Biden has been the best president for seniors in over half a century. Kamala Harris will be even better."
This post has been updated with comment from Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign.
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'No Place Is Safe': Multiple People Shot at Kansas City Super Bowl Parade
"Today we continue the cycle of fear and grieving in Kansas City during a parade," said one gun control group.
Feb 14, 2024
This is a developing story… Please check back for possible updates...
Officials in Kansas City, Missouri on Wednesday said at least one person was killed and another 21 people were injured in a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade, with multiple in critical condition.
The police said three people had been taken into custody.
The shooting took place near Union Station, where a rally was held following the parade to celebrate the football team's victory on Sunday.
A spokesperson for University Health told The New York Times that four people had been taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds and eight people were there being treated for other injuries. Chaos erupted at the rally when the shooting began, causing thousands of fans to flee.
The shooting took place on the sixth anniversary of the Parkland, Florida shooting at a high school, which launched a nationwide student-led effort to push for tighter gun control regulations.
"As we wait for more details, we know this: We are horrified by the American nightmare that is gun violence," said March for Our Lives, the group founded by Parkland survivors. "NO PLACE IS SAFE."
The parents of Joaquin Oliver, one of the young students killed on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, were scheduled to appear on CNN as the news broke about the Kansas City shooting.
Manuel Oliver and Patricia Padauy-Oliver were there to discuss "The Shotline," a new program that uses artificial intelligence technology to recreate the voices of gun violence victims and demand action from lawmakers.
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'Noah's Wounds Were Not Survivable': Parents Allow Detailed View of AR-15 Carnage
The Washington Post exposé has been described as "the most powerful article you will read this week" and "one of the most important pieces of journalism ever produced."
Mar 28, 2023
On Monday morning, The Washington Post published a series of 3D animations to show "how bullets from an AR-15 blow the body apart."
A few hours later, a 28-year-old shooter armed with two assault rifles and a handgun killed six people at a private Christian school in Nashville.
In the wake of that massacre—the 129th mass shooting in the United States in 2023—the Post's exposé has received sustained attention, with one person calling it "the most powerful article you will read this week" and another characterizing it as "one of the most important pieces of journalism ever produced."
Noting that the lethal wounds caused by AR-15s "are rarely seen" by the public, the newspaper demonstrated "the trajectory of two different hypothetical gunshots to the chest—one from an AR-15 and another from a typical handgun—to explain the greater severity of the damage caused by the AR-15."
Then, after obtaining permission from the parents of two school shooting victims, a team of visual reporters created 3D models to depict how bullets fired from "many mass killers' weapon of choice" obliterated their children's bodies.
Noah Ponzer was one of the 26 people who were killed by an AR-15-wielding gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. The 6-year-old was shot three times.
"Noah's wounds were not survivable," the Post reported, citing 2019 court testimony from Wayne Carver, who was the state's chief medical examiner at the time.
Peter Wang was one of 17 people murdered when an attacker armed with an AR-15 opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018. The 15-year-old was shot 13 times.
As the Post reported: "The combined energy of those bullets created exit wounds so 'gaping' that the autopsy described his head as 'deformed.' Blood and brain splatter were found on his upper body and the walls. That degree of destruction, according to medical experts, is possible only with a high-velocity weapon."
"This is the trauma witnessed by first responders—but rarely, if ever, seen by the public or the policymakers who write gun laws," the newspaper noted.
Instead, many GOP lawmakers glorify assault rifles, including U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), whose congressional district is home to the Nashville school where Monday's deadly shooting took place.
Another right-wing member of Tennessee's congressional delegation—Republican Rep. Tim Burchett—baldly stated that "we're not gonna fix it" just hours after the shooting.
There are more guns than people in the United States. Due to National Rifle Association-bankrolled Republicans' opposition to meaningful gun safety laws—bolstered by a 2022 ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court's reactionary majority—it is relatively easy for people to purchase firearms in many states.
Two years ago, Tennessee became one of several states that allow most adults to carry handguns without a permit.
There have been thousands of mass shootings since Noah and more than two dozen other individuals suffered gruesome deaths at Sandy Hook, including last year's slaughter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, among hundreds of others. Research shows that U.S. states with weaker gun control laws and higher rates of gun ownership have higher rates of mass shootings.
Research also shows that gun regulations with high levels of public support, including bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, help reduce the number and severity of fatal mass shootings.
Guns recently became the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States. A study published last year found that roughly 26,000 kids could still be alive today if the U.S. had the same gun mortality rate as Canada.
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And Now They Want to Arm Our Children?
Parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, need to get off the couch so the Parkland high school generation of anti-gun activists doesn't have to do all the heavy lifting to end the scourge of gun violence.
Jan 29, 2023
Days in January: 31. Number of mass shootings in the US as of January 25, according to the Gun Violence Archive: 40. (I pray the number hasn't gone up by the time you read this.)
From cries of madness to tears of rage; from citizen fury to congressional prayers, we careen toward a future where a visit to a ballroom dance studio (Monterey Park), mushroom farm (Half Moon Bay), or gas station (Oakland)—all in California—could be the location where you are murdered. Add those sites to this incomplete list: movie theaters, houses of worship, big box stores, and that old standby: schools.
Speaking of schools, let's pause for a moment to contemplate the dystopian story of a six-year-old boy who shot his teacher at a school in Virginia, using a gun his mother had legally purchased. We have safety caps on Tylenol that many adults struggle to open, and we can't prevent a child from firing a gun?
Sadly, in addition to schools being where you might find victims of shootings, it's also where you can likely now turn to find a new crop of shooters, courtesy of the gun lobby.
Get ready for the WEE1 Tactical JR-15 rifle, designed specifically for children. This "rifle for kids," the JR-15 rifle—get it, "junior"-sized—is sold by the WEE1 Tactical firearm company. And, good news, kids: it only weighs two pounds.
In a press release, the company wrote: "Our goal was to develop a shooting platform that was not only sized correctly, and safe, but also looks, feels, and operates just like Mom and Dad's gun... The WEE1 and Schmid Tool Team brought their collective experience in the firearms business… to launch the JR-15. We are so excited to start capturing the imagination of the next generation."
While the JR-15 is a .22 caliber rifle—commonly used for hunting small game or for marksmanship, the JR-15 is manufactured with a distinctly military and tactical look so it resembles an AR-15, you know, the weapon most commonly used in countless mass shootings.
Enough is freakin' enough. Time's up, America.
How about adults—parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles—getting off the couch so the Parkland high school generation of anti-gun activists doesn't have to do all the heavy lifting? What is stopping us from showing up en masse at meetings of our city councils and school boards? When are some of us going to our state capitols and the halls of Congress, sitting in outside legislators' offices? And when are others picketing in front of the corporate offices of the gun manufacturers? If there was such a thing as a nonviolent insurrection to stop gun violence, we ought to wage it now.
There have been modest gains in recent years, thanks to the tireless effort of hardworking advocates and activists, but nothing has worked… yet. From Sandy Hook to Uvalde, the gun rights über alles crowd keeps on keepin' on.
Consider what Republican extremist Georgia Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene said after the horrifying mass murder of 19 children and two teachers last May: "The kids at Uvalde needed JR-15s to defend themselves..." This is madness.
We must stop the (gun crowd) steal; we have to stop them from stealing our lives.
A couple of years ago somebody said—in a completely different context—"we [need to] fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
Well, we can have a country, if we launch a sustained nationwide, nonviolent movement to end the scourge of gun violence.
Dammit! What are we waiting for?
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10 Years After Sandy Hook Massacre, Progressives in Congress Lead Calls for Gun Control
"It's been 10 years since Sandy Hook. Ten years and Republicans still offer no solution beyond thoughts and prayers. Our children deserve action," asserted Rep. Barbara Lee.
Dec 14, 2022
U.S. progressives marked the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre by renewing calls for gun control, with one reform advocate telling families of those slain in the nation's worst primary school shooting that "it is our national shame that we failed to take meaningful steps to protect your children."
"Instead of a moral reckoning, this country has seen an increase in mass shootings. The whole damn system is guilty as hell."
On December 14, 2012, a mentally ill 20-year-old armed with an assault-style semi-automatic rifle shot and killed his mother before murdering 20 first graders and six faculty members at the Newtown, Connecticut school before taking his own life as first responders arrived on the gruesome scene.
While gun control advocates pressed for reforms in the wake of the Sandy Hook slaughter, National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre, who still holds the position today, asserted that more guns in the form of armed guards at schools were part of the solution to a problem which he blamed on violent movies, video games, and music videos.
Since Sandy Hook, Democratic U.S. lawmakers have proposed dozens of gun control laws, with the vast majority failing to pass.
"Ten years ago today, 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School were shot and killed. We must never forget that horrific day," tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). "It's time for Congress to pass the commonsense gun safety reforms the American people are demanding."
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) tweeted that "it's been 10 years since Sandy Hook. Ten years and Republicans still offer no solution beyond thoughts and prayers. Our children deserve action."
Former Democratic Ohio congressional candidate Nina Turner wrote on Twitter: "It's been 10 years since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary occurred and instead of a moral reckoning, this country has seen an increase in mass shootings. The whole damn system is guilty as hell."
Since Sandy Hook, there have been 189 deadly school shootings in the United States, resulting in 279 deaths, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. The advocacy group Sandy Hook Promise says that 12 children are killed and 32 more wounded by gunfire each day in the United States.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures show that more than 250,000 people have been shot dead in the United States between 2016 and 2021. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 42,199 U.S. gun deaths in 2022 alone, including 628 mass shootings.
"Today, gun violence has become the leading cause of death for children in the U.S.," noted the Institute for Policy Studies in a Twitter thread.
IPS continued:
Even within the U.S., gun deaths are highest in the states with the fewest gun restrictions... The same NRA lobbyists who profit off pushing more guns into the populace tell us that the answer to school shootings is to militarize schools. But we've seen that adding police to schools harms students--and *still fails* to prevent shootings.
The pro-gun lobby, one of the largest in the country, ignores these facts and spreads distortions by vastly outspending all of the gun safety orgs, while Congress looks on. Nearly $3 billion(!) is being spent annually on school security across the country without proven evidence that it promotes safety. Instead, we should invest in what we *know* promotes safety: Social and emotional support for students. And commonsense regulations on guns.
"From Sandy Hook to Parkland to Uvalde to Club Q, mass shootings are heartbreaking, too common, and entirely avoidable," IPS added. "Before we see any more tragedies, Congress must listen to the people and pass bold gun control now."
President Joe Biden--who earlier this year signed minor gun safety legislation in the wake of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas--marked the Sandy Hook anniversary by declaring a day of remembrance.
"We should have societal guilt for taking too long to deal with this problem," the president said in a statement. "We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again."
At the time of the Sandy Hook shooting, Biden was vice president under then-President Barack Obama.
Biden added Wednesday that he is "determined" to sign a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, an unlikely outcome given Republicans will control the House of Representatives beginning next month.
"Enough is enough. Our obligation is clear," the president said. "We must eliminate these weapons that have no purpose other than to kill people in large numbers."
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'Young People Saved This Election' for Democrats, Say Progressives
"Don't underestimate the power of a pissed off generation," said NextGen America.
Nov 09, 2022
While control of Congress remained unclear as of Wednesday afternoon, young voters who turned out for Democrats on Tuesday played a key role in blocking a "red wave" that had been anticipated based on previous midterm elections and widely predicted by political pollsters and pundits.
"Young people proved that Gen Z is a vital voting bloc that can and will be the bedrock of the Democratic Party."
Republicans may still secure narrow majorities in the U.S. House and Senate--enabling them to impede President Joe Biden's agenda for the next two years--but Democrats have won some major congressional and gubernatorial races, and voters backed progressive ballot measures on abortion, forced prison labor, marijuana, Medicaid expansion, and minimum wage.
As ballot-counting continued Wednesday, campaigners, candidates, and political commentators remarked on the significance of young voters--including members of Generation Z (ages 18-25) and Millennials (ages 26-40)--who also helped Biden decisively defeat former President Donald Trump in 2020.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who was reelected, said that "the role of young people in this election cannot be understated."
"Young people saved this election," proclaimed Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement. "Two elections in a row, young people proved that Gen Z is a vital voting bloc that can and will be the bedrock of the Democratic Party."
According to the climate leader, "That's why our leaders must invest in us--from running candidates who fight for the issues that matter most to our generation, to delivering policy at the federal level that make our lives better, to putting money into critical youth organizing efforts that have historically been undervalued."
"Democrats are winning young voters by a significant margin. Imagine what the margins would be if we actually invested in these voters," Prakash continued. "The party thinks they can create a TikTok account and reach young people, but the reality is that they have to intentionally bring us in and deliver for us."
"For us, it's never been just about defeating Donald Trump," she stressed. "We turn out to fight for the issues our generation faces everyday, like the impending climate crisis, protecting our reproductive freedoms, and ending gun violence in our schools. The Democratic Party needs to understand that if we want to win."
Sunrise supported successful Democratic candidates in some closely watched contests, including future U.S. House members Greg Casar of Texas and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania.
The climate movement welcomed Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman's defeat of Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race, saying in a series of tweets that "young people won this election" and "they did it for clean air and water, to stop a nationwide abortion ban, and to make their lives better."
Though Democrats struggled across Florida on Election Day, progressive 25-year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost won in the state's 10th Congressional District and is now set to be the first member of Gen Z in Congress--a development that Sunrise also celebrated, declaring that "young people are taking over."
Edison Research National Election Pool exit polling shows that 63% of voters ages 18-29 preferred Democratic U.S. House candidates while only 35% backed Republicans. Young voters--particularly those who are Black and Latino--strongly preferred Democrats; party preference was split for the 30-44 age group and older voters preferred GOP candidates.
The polling also reveals that in Wisconsin, voters under age 30 supported Democratic Gov. Tony Evers--who narrowly won reelection over Trump-backed Tim Michels--70% to 30%.
Though Democratic Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes failed to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, young voters backed Fetterman 70% to 28% and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.)--whose race against Republican Herschel Walker is going to a runoff--63% to 36%.
"Don't underestimate the power of a pissed off generation," tweeted NextGen America.
Antonio Arellano, vice president of communications at the youth voter mobilization group, said: "Last night young voters prevented a massive Republican roll back. That's a fact."
"If it wasn't for Gen Z, there would have been a red wave," Olivia Julianna, director of politics and government affairs at Gen Z for Change, similarly said.
"The polling shows that OUR generation voted for Democrats more than any other age group. WE are the reason democracy will stand," she added. "We now have a seat at the table. Time to start listening."
Just before Election Day, The Nation's Mark Hertsgaard spoke with various youth organizers, including Julianna and March for Our Lives co-founder David Hogg, who told him that "even if there are all these boomer pundits out there saying young people aren't going to turn out... the data show that is not the case for our generation."
"In 2018, we saw one of the highest youth turnouts of any nonpresidential midterm in American history. In 2020, we saw the highest youth voter turnout in American history. And young people aren't stopping," the 22-year-old Parkland survivor noted. "Over the past several weeks, March for Our Lives has contacted several hundred thousand voters to help turn out the vote."
"In the past, many young people prior to us felt they had the luxury of not voting, because they didn't see how [voting] could affect them," Hogg added. Now, "gun violence is literally the leading cause of death for young people in our country. The combination of the Parkland shooting, climate change, the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and especially, frankly, the election of Donald Trump showed our generation how politics is tangible to us."
While several of Tuesday's races remain too close to call, the 2024 contests--particularly the presidential battle--are already on the minds of many, especially with Trump expected to officially declare his candidacy at his recently raided Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, next week.
"We want to see more sustained outreach... that's really how the Democrats keep this momentum going through 2024."
"I think that President Biden and the Democratic Party have shown that they are fighting for Gen Z on a lot of different issues and they've shown their ability to deliver," Jack Lobel of the group Voters of Tomorrow told NPR early Tuesday, citing historic investments in climate action and community colleges, student debt cancellation, and marijuana possession pardons.
"We want to see more sustained outreach though--I think that's really how the Democrats keep this momentum going through 2024," said Lobel, who voted for the first time in this election.
As for this cycle, Lobel asserted that "Gen Z is uniquely connected" and "we saw this victory last night because of the work of young organizers."
"We feel empathy for our generation and members of our generation in other states," the New Yorker explained, highlighting his state's support for abortion access. "I voted because... my peers in other states do not have those same rights. I voted because although in New York we have gun violence restrictions that keep us safe, my peers in other states don't have those rights."
"I voted for democracy," he added. "I voted for abortion rights. I voted for our future."
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Rejecting Death Penalty, Jury Recommends Life Without Parole for Parkland Mass Shooter
Nikolas Cruz will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars for murdering 17 people at a Florida high school in 2018.
Oct 13, 2022
A Florida jury recommended Thursday that Nikolas Cruz--who murdered 17 students and staff during a 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School--be spared execution and instead imprisoned for life without the possibility of parole.
"My sister is dead, and killing someone else will not bring her back."
Cruz pleaded guilty last October to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the February 14, 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 14 students and three staff members were killed and 17 others were injured.
According to the Associated Press, the jury could not unanimously agree that Cruz should be executed, as is required for a death sentence in the state. Sentencing is set to take place on November 1 to allow time for surviving victims to give impact statements and weigh in on their preferences.
While numerous relatives of Parkland victims expressed their desire to see Cruz executed, survivors and relatives of those slain called for his life to be spared.
"The death penalty is barbaric and implementing state violence will not bring any of the victims back," Parkland survivor Cameron Kasky, who was a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas at the time of the shooting, said in a statement earlier this year.
"Just because this guy is clearly deserving of [execution] doesn't mean the many innocent individuals on death row are guilty," Kasky continued. "Killing one innocent person is too many, so the death penalty must be abolished in all cases."
"The media will play to your emotional desire for justice to try and create a false narrative that the MSD shooter is responsible for the shooting," he added, "but make no mistake: it's the politicians who support the gun lobby that should be held accountable for this."
Robert Schentrup, the brother of 16-year-old Parkland victim Carmen Schentrup, told CNN earlier this week that "logically, it doesn't follow for me that we say, 'murdering someone is this horrible, heinous, awful, terrible thing, and in order to prove that point, we're going to do it to someone else.'"
"And I understood that if this is something that I felt that I believe that it needed to apply in my personal case and beyond, I had to look deep into my values and say, is this something that connects with it?" he added.
Schentrup explained that his opposition to the death penalty is moral and not emotional in nature, pointing to racial disparities in capital punishment, as well as the likely execution of innocent people and the killing of people with intellectual disabilities.
However, Max Schachter, the father of 14-year-old Parkland victim Alex Schachter, has argued that Cruz is undeniably guilty of the murders, that there was no racial or economic bias in the case, and that the perpetrator is not intellectually disabled--and therefore he should be executed.
"You can be against the death penalty and still support it for the trial of the worst high school murderer," Schachter tweeted on Tuesday.
Cruz's defense attorney, Melissa McNeill, said during the trial that her client is intellectually disabled, noting that he suffered fetal alcohol syndrome disorder after his biological mother allegedly drank alcohol and did drugs during her pregnancy.
"He was doomed from the womb," McNeill said during closing arguments. "In a civilized, humane society, do we kill brain-damaged, mentally ill, broken people? To take a life when life has been lost is revenge, not justice."
The truth is that U.S. states have killed dozens of such people, even after the U.S. Supreme Court banned the death penalty for the intellectually disabled in the landmark 2002 Atkins v. Virginia ruling.
Robert Schentrup's stance is at odds with some of his relatives, including his and Carmen's father, Philip Schentrup, who told CNN that "my wife and I love our son and are proud of the thoughtful, intelligent, and engaged young man he has become. We disagree with our son, however, on this topic."
"As shown in the trial, Carmen's murderer expressed pride and joy in murdering Carmen and 16 other incredible people," he said. "We believe under Florida law a death sentence is the appropriate outcome."
However, Robert Schentrup rejected the notion "that vengeance should make me feel better and that it will bring me 'closure' so that 'I can continue to heal.'"
"I do not fucking care," Schentrup said, "because my sister is dead, and killing someone else will not bring her back."
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'Step Up or Get Out of the Way,' Say Organizers Ahead of June 11 March for Our Lives
Hundreds of protests against gun violence—and lawmakers' inaction—will take place in cities across the U.S. and abroad.
Jun 10, 2022
Amid seemingly intractable legislative inertia after the latest of thousands of U.S. mass shootings, youth-led activists are set to reprise the 2018 March for Our Lives protest against gun violence and congressional inaction with events in Washington, D.C. and hundreds of cities and towns in the United States and abroad this Saturday, June 11.
"The 'solutions' of arming teachers, bulletproof doors, all that stuff: It's nonsense."
Swiftly organized in the wake of last month's mass murder of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and the racist massacre of 10 people at a Buffalo, New York supermarket, the second iteration of March for Our Lives is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, including at least 50,000 to the main protest at the Washington Monument on the National Mall.
"We're putting our foot down, and we're saying we had enough of it. The 'solutions' of arming teachers, bulletproof doors, all that stuff: It's nonsense," March for Our Lives national coordinator Serena Rodrigues, 23, told The Washington Post. "It's time for lawmakers to step up or get out of the way."
Speakers at Saturday's Washington, D.C. demonstration will include March for Our Lives co-founders David Hogg and X Gonzalez, who survived the 2018 massacre of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida; the son of a victim of the Buffalo supermarket shooting; Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.); American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten; and Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., according to a statement from event organizers.
Now a student at Harvard University, Hogg--who's faced right-wing harassment, including by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who called Parkland and other mass shootings false-flag operations by gun-grabbing Democrats--said he's spending his college summer break meeting with lawmakers to press for gun law reform.
"I'm tired of being here. I want to be a college student," he said during Wednesday's U.S. House Oversight Committee gun violence hearing. "I want to go out and have fun and do my job and be a young person that's enjoying my life and not having to be doing the job of what our senators should be doing right now."
In the four years since the first March for Our Lives, there have been more than 100 school shootings and over 170,000 firearm deaths in the United States.
It is estimated that at least one million people in the United States and around the world took part in the March 24, 2018 March For Our Lives, including up to 800,000 demonstrators who attended the main protest in Washington, D.C.
To find a nearby March for Our Lives, click here.
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'Ted Cruz, F-ck You!': Anger Erupts at Gun-Loving GOP After Mass Slaughter in Texas
Democratic lawmakers and the father of a 14-year-old killed in a previous school shooting were among those who unleashed on Republicans.
May 25, 2022
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, was among those who refused to hide his fury at the right-wing lawmakers whose allegiance to the powerful gun lobby has allowed mass killings like the one in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday to continue.
On Twitter Wednesday, Guttenberg railed against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who took $300,000 in donations from the gun lobby during his last Senate race, after the senator said he was "fervently lifting up in prayer" the victims of the shooting.
"Ted Cruz, FUCK YOU," said the gun control advocate. "This is on your hands. Don't put out messages like this."
"I'd like to tell them all to go F-off because of what they did, what they do. The way they politicize guns and violence led us to this day."
Guttenberg's comments came a day after he appeared on MSNBC to offer support to the 21 families who lost loved ones in the southwest Texas town before saying pro-gun politicians "fucking failed our kids again" and calling on Cruz to work with Democrats to pass gun control legislation.
"You be the Republican who says, 'I've had enough,' because if you don't, get your ass out of office, you don't belong there," he said.
Cruz is scheduled to speak at the National Rifle Association's (NRA) conference taking place in Houston this weekend.
The senator has told activists in recent years that "it's not that easy" to pass gun control legislation such as universal background check requirements--which are supported by the vast majority of Americans, including 72% of NRA members.
"I guess cashing his check from the NRA this weekend will be pretty easy, though," writer and gun control advocate Ben Jackson said.
In addition to Murphy, who angrily asked Republican lawmakers, "Why are you here?" in his Senate floor speech, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) unleashed on his right-wing colleagues including Cruz and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). Along with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Sinema has objected to filibuster reform, making it impossible for her own party to pass gun control legislation as well as other Democratic agenda items.
"Fuck you, Ted Cruz, you fucking baby killer," Gallego said.
At the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, civil rights attorney Sherilynn Ifill cautioned the majority of Americans who support gun control against believing Cruz's claim that "nothing can be done" to keep mass shootings from happening.
"It is designed to make you give in to the exhaustion of this moment," Ifill said. "Don't believe it. It's a lie. We have power if we mobilize it."
"Every lawmaker at every level who has refused to adopt reasonable gun control--who has allowed guns and high-capacity magazines to fall into the hands of those who should not have them--who has ignored the safety of our children and communities--should search their hearts and recalculate their priorities," said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director of MomsRising.
"America's moms do not want to raise our children in a country with so much violence, where our children are not safe, where mass shootings are commonplace, where there are more guns than people," she said.
"We deserve better. We will work to make sure lawmakers who protect our children and communities are elected, we will push hard for gun safety measures, and we will hold each other close and love and care for each other," Rowe-Finkbeiner added. "We do all this because no mother, father, child, son, daughter, or community should ever have to endure losses like those that happened today."
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Parkland Survivors Spell 'Thoughts and Prayers' With Body Bags on Capitol Hill
"Four years of thoughts and prayers. Four years of broken promises. Four years without ANY federal action on guns."
Mar 25, 2022
Marking four years since the March for Our Lives demonstration--and memorializing more than 170,000 people who have been killed in the United States by gun violence since then--survivors of the 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting used more than a thousand body bags Thursday to spell out the words "Thoughts and Prayers" on the ground outside the U.S. Capitol building.
Each of the 1,100 body bags represented more than 150 deaths, according to organizers, who based the numbers on data from the Gun Violence Archive. The phrase "thoughts and prayers" has infuriated gun control advocates in recent years, as the pro-gun lobby and lawmakers across the political spectrum have repeated the words after mass shootings, while doing little to stop gun violence.
"Four years of thoughts and prayers. Four years of broken promises. Four years without ANY federal action on guns," said March for Our Lives, the group formed by survivors of the Parkland shooting, in which 17 people were killed in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The group, along with family members of people killed in other mass shootings, are calling on Democrats to bring to the Senate floor legislation for universal background checks for gun purchasers--which is supported by 89% of Americans.
According to the Washington Post, at least 89,000 K-12 students have been exposed to gun violence at school since the Parkland shooting, and more than 292,000 schoolchildren have experienced gun violence since the 1999 Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
"If they continue to pursue a pathway of inaction, only more people are going to die."
"This is still happening, and we need to step back into this to keep pushing and coercing our president and Congress to do something," Jaclyn Corin, a Parkland survivor and March for Our Lives co-founder, told the Post. "If they continue to pursue a pathway of inaction, only more people are going to die."
The U.S. House passed universal background checks legislation in March 2021. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he "strongly" supports continuing to pursue the broadly popular legislation in the Senate, but has yet to do so.
Right-wing Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who since the Democrats took over both chambers of Congress and the White House in 2021 has obstructed his own party's progress on climate action and anti-poverty legislation, said after the House bill passed that he does not support background checks for all gun sales.
In 2013, Manchin worked with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on legislation requiring background checks on all commercial sales, with a carve-out for private sales between individuals who know each other.
"If you're not willing to protect Americans from endless mass shootings, you don't belong in Congress," said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich last year after Manchin came out against the House-passed bill.
On Thursday, Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed in Parkland, noted that March for Our Lives and other gun control advocates and survivors supported the Democrats in 2020 in hopes that the party would deliver gun control action at the federal level.
Lawmakers should not assume they will automatically get the same support, Oliver said.
"Do they think we're going to do the same thing we did a couple of years ago?" he said to the Washington Post. "We're not making that mistake again."
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