CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Rep. Ted Deutch, a Boca Raton Democrat, hosted a town hall on gun violence Tuesday, the first of almost 100 forums across the country.
More than a thousand people packed the Coral Springs Center for the Arts to discuss how to make children safer after 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14.
"We all need to rely on one another, support one another, and work together to make our communities safe from gun violence," Deutch said.
Deutch urged people in the audience to tweet House Speaker Paul Ryan to demand a vote in Congress on instituting universal background checks.
Jason Attermann, a spokesman for Deutch, said the event was the largest town hall event that the congressman has ever held.
“Really what we need is more things like this across America, where there are politicians supported by the NRA,” said David Hogg, one of the students that organized the event.
Spearheaded by Stoneman Douglas student activists, the town halls aim to keep the issue of gun violence at the forefront after hundreds of thousands of people marched last month in Washington and other cities, demanding stricter regulations on weapons.
Family members of some of the victims also spoke at the event and made impassioned appeals for gun control.
“We have to ban assault weapons. We have to make it work. It’s not about the Second Amendment, it's about what’s right and what's wrong,” Debbie Hixon, the widows of Stoneman Douglas Athletic Director Chris Hixon.
A number of gun-control supporters were in the audience, holding pro-gun signs. One man briefly heckled Coral Springs City Commissioner Dan Daley. Students and pro-gun supporters got into some heated arguments outside the event.
Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Weston, and Frederica Wilson, of Miami Gardens, also planned to hold similar events this week.