It’s been a week since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead. And in that short amount of time, the teenage survivors have started a movement to turn up the pressure on lawmakers for gun control reforms.
Florida State Representative Jared Moskowitz says we shouldn’t be surprised by how quickly they mobilized.
“This is what America looks like,” he said. “This is how we’ve brought major change in this country before. Groups have risen up and demanded the system change. It just so happens that it’s kids. Maybe we’re not used to that...but if the adults in the room are failing, then let’s listen to our children.”
On Tuesday, just days after the shooting, Florida lawmakers voted down a motion to take up a bill that would ban assault rifles, reflecting the state’s historical reluctance to enact gun control reforms.
“Florida is, unfortunately, the Petri dish for the NRA,” says Moskowitz.
The legislator urged President Trump to live up to his campaign promise and make America great again. He said the commander-in-chief can’t use pushback from Congress as an excuse for not getting things done.
“Just sign an executive order and ban bump stocks,” he said. “Just sign an executive order and deal with background checks.”
The tech-savvy teenagers of Parkland have leveraged social and traditional media to mobilize people across the country. They’ve organized a national “March for our Lives” protest for March 24.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/florida-state-legislator-partisanship-on-gun-control-wont-cut-it).
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street Thursday as investors welcomed a report showing the U.S. job market continues to climb out of the crater created by the coronavirus pandemic.
White House Economic Adviser, Tyler Goodspeed, on the June jobs report. Goodspeed also keys in the Trump administration's goal of growing jobs despite coronavirus cases spiking.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. climbed to a new high of more than 50,000 per day on Thursday.
Federal Reserve officials last month expressed concerns about the severity of the economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Arizona recorded more coronavirus deaths, infections and emergency-room admissions in a single day than ever before in a rapidly deepening crisis Wednesday across the Sunbelt.
Economic Policy Institute Policy Director Heidi Shierholz warns of the possible consequences if Congress allows the pandemic unemployment assistance program to expire.
Health experts have slammed the U.S. decision to hog nearly the entire global supply of remdesivir, the only drug licensed so far to treat COVID-19.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says the U.S. is “going in the wrong direction” with coronavirus cases surging in some regions, and that's putting the entire country at risk.
The European Union has announced it will reopen its borders to travelers from 14 countries, but most Americans have been refused entry for at least another two weeks due to soaring coronavirus infections in the U.S.
