Gun debate roils U.S.

Marquise Francis
·National Reporter

On Feb. 14 – Valentine’s Day – 17 people were killed in a high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., by suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz, 19.
On a day usually associated with appreciation for loved ones, Cruz used an AR-15 assault-style rifle to slaughter students and faculty of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He bought the weapon himself.
Then, less than a week after the shooting, Florida legislators rejected an assault rifle ban. Meanwhile, high school students across the nation, spearheaded by students from Stoneman Douglas, began speaking out, marching and protesting for legislators to enact gun control laws to prevent Parkland-style massacres from occurring.
Nowhere in the world do citizens have access to guns as they do in America. Although the U.S. makes up 4.4 percent of the world’s population, it owns nearly half the world’s guns.
This month, on March 24, high school students will travel to Washington and protest on Capitol Hill. Their message: Never let a shooting like Parkland ever happen again.