TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students began their march to the Capitol on Wednesday morning as part of their movement to change gun laws in the wake of last week's mass shooting.
Seventeen people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured on Valentine's Day after former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, used an AK-15 rifle to open fire at the Parkland school.
A large group of students traveled to Tallahassee by bus Tuesday to take their "Never Again" movement to the state capital. They spent the night at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, some on cots and others in sleeping bags that they brought from home, and then walked a few blocks to the Capitol, where they were meeting with state lawmakers throughout the day.
Their first meeting was with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Students told Local 10 News they were looking forward to speaking with the Florida House members who halted a bill that would ban semiautomatic rifles like the one Cruz used.
Some were encouraged by their meetings, but others were less optimistic.
"Most of them are like, answering questions with questions and not really, like, hearing our side of the story, which is what we're here to do," one student said.