Parents and Students Plead With Trump: ‘How Many Children Have to Get Shot?’
- 6 years ago
Parents and Students Plead With Trump: ‘How Many Children Have to Get Shot?’
A mother who lost her 6-year-old son in a school shooting just over five years ago warned
that more parents would lose their children if President Trump did not act, adding, “Don’t let that happen on your watch.”
One by one at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, survivors of school shootings
and family members of victims shared their stories and their calls to action.
“Because my daughter, I’m not going to see again.”
Samuel Zeif, 18, told of texting his parents and brothers from the second floor of Stoneman Douglas, believing
that he would be killed, and he dissolved into tears as he begged the president, “Let’s never let this happen again — please, please.”
“I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an A-R,” Mr. Zeif said, referring to the AR-15 rifle.
“Rather than arm them with a firearm,” Ms. Hockley said of teachers, “I would rather arm
them with the knowledge of how to prevent these acts from happening in the first place.”
One of Mr. Pollack’s sons, Hunter, said he would prefer
that educators carried weapons, arguing that more firearms on campus would lead to safer schools.
“It should have been one school shooting, and we should have fixed it —
and I’m pissed,” said Mr. Pollack, the only parent of a child killed in Parkland who was at the session, raising his voice as he looked at Mr. Trump.
A mother who lost her 6-year-old son in a school shooting just over five years ago warned
that more parents would lose their children if President Trump did not act, adding, “Don’t let that happen on your watch.”
One by one at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, survivors of school shootings
and family members of victims shared their stories and their calls to action.
“Because my daughter, I’m not going to see again.”
Samuel Zeif, 18, told of texting his parents and brothers from the second floor of Stoneman Douglas, believing
that he would be killed, and he dissolved into tears as he begged the president, “Let’s never let this happen again — please, please.”
“I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an A-R,” Mr. Zeif said, referring to the AR-15 rifle.
“Rather than arm them with a firearm,” Ms. Hockley said of teachers, “I would rather arm
them with the knowledge of how to prevent these acts from happening in the first place.”
One of Mr. Pollack’s sons, Hunter, said he would prefer
that educators carried weapons, arguing that more firearms on campus would lead to safer schools.
“It should have been one school shooting, and we should have fixed it —
and I’m pissed,” said Mr. Pollack, the only parent of a child killed in Parkland who was at the session, raising his voice as he looked at Mr. Trump.