‘Take action’: How Americans (and Jimmy Kimmel) reacted to the Florida school shooting
They all have one thing to say: Gun control.
“As I’m sure you know and feel, this is another very sad day in America. Another senseless shooting,” said Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday (video above). With tears in his eyes and a voice breaking with emotion, Kimmel spoke about the Florida school shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a 19-year-old shot at and killed 17 students, and injured several others.
Kimmel addressed President Donald Trump’s response to the shooting from the White House, where he said, “No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.” Trump also expressed his condolences and thoughts and prayers for the families of the victims. Here is his speech:
An emotional Kimmel had several suggestions for the President in his speech. “Tell your buddies in Congress...that what we need are laws. Real laws that do everything possible to keep assault rifles out of the hands of people who are going to shoot our kids,” he said, adding “Now. Not later. Now. And don’t you dare let anyone say it’s too soon to be talking about it. Children are being murdered. Do something.”
The talk show host appealed to people to demand gun control from their representatives and, if they don’t listen, to vote those representatives out. But not before he took a direct dig at Trump: “Your party voted to repeal the mandates on coverage for mental health. So I agree, this is a mental illness issue because if you don’t think we need to do something about it, you are obviously mentally ill.” He expressed a similar gun-control sentiment on Twitter (below).
Kimmel wasn’t the only one speaking out. David Hogg, a student from the school where the shooting happened, begged the government to do something. “Please, take action. Ideas are great. Ideas are wonderful and they help you get re-elected, but what’s more important is actual action and pertinent action that results in saving thousands of children’s lives. Please, take action,” he said.
In another video, Hogg said, “The fact that this is the 18th school shooting, and this is only February, is a testament to where this country has come and how far...”
Several of Hoggs’s peers from Florida also shared their feelings with the media after the shooting, and it’s no surprise that they all demanded action.
Melissa Falkowski, a teacher at the school where the shooting happened, broke down in an interview with MSNBC as she begged the Congress to do something, after describing what she did to protect the students.
Kelly Ripa, another talk show host, said, “I don’t know how many times it has to happen before somebody does something... In this moment, I am a mom of three kids that go to school and I had to talk my kids off a ledge this morning because they were afraid to go to school.”
Here are some Twitter posts from Americans and students from the Parkland school where the shooting took place: