Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Florida school shooting survivors on cover of time: 'Enough'

Student of Parkland high school have become public faces of national a gun control movement

Jeremy B. White
San Francisco
Thursday 22 March 2018 18:35 GMT
Comments
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Jaclyn Corin, Alex Wind, Emma González, Cameron Kasky and David Hogg appear on Time's cover for a story about young people driving the gun control debate
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Jaclyn Corin, Alex Wind, Emma González, Cameron Kasky and David Hogg appear on Time's cover for a story about young people driving the gun control debate (TIME)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Survivors of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, who are spearheading a national movement for gun control, are featured on the latest cover of Time magazine.

Under the headline 'Enough' the group of vocal and internet-savvy teens are the figureheads of a movement looking to redefine the gun control debate in the weeks since a gunman killed 17 people at their high school

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Jaclyn Corin, Alex Wind, Emma González, Cameron Kasky and David Hogg all appear on the cover, standing in for a student-driven movement for tougher gun regulations.

The corresponding story chronicles how young people have driven a resurgent push for new gun laws. In tweets, meetings and rallies, they have publicly urged elected officials in Washington and Tallahassee, Florida’s state capitol, to enact tougher gun restrictions.

Following the lead of their Florida counterparts, students around the country walked out of their schools to advocate for tougher gun laws. A “March For Our Lives” rally is planned for Saturday in Washington, DC, with similar marches planned across the country over the weekend.

The groundswell of gun control advocacy has already yielded some concrete results. Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a gun control package, passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature, that raises the age for buying all firearms to 21 and allows courts to strip guns from people deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others.

Elected officials in Washington have so far not not followed suit. While Donald Trump initially shocked the political world by seeming to embrace measures that are anathema to the politically powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), he later moderated his stance and said he was in agreement with the NRA.

Donald Trump at school safety meeting: 'take the guns first, go through due process second'

But corporate America has forged ahead, with major retailers like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods announcing they would require all people purchasing guns to be 21.

Adding to that wave, banking and financial services corporation Citi announced this week that it would only partner with companies that require background checks to buy guns, restrict firearms sales to people who are under the age of 21 and do not sell high-capacity magazines or devices known as bump-stocks that enable more rapid firing.

“As a society, we all know that something needs to change. And as a company, we feel we must do our part”, Citi said in a statement.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in