Survivor of Parkland Shooting Speaks on Minnesota Gun Legislature

DULUTH, Minn. — One survivor of the 2018 fatal mass shooting in Parkland, Florida spoke out at a Rally For Peace held in Duluth.

Following the parkland massacre, David Hogg became a gun control activist and co-found the March For Our Lives organization, which supports gun control legislation.

“I see myself as one voice of unfortunately thousands that have become apart of the club that nobody wants to be apart of, which is people affected by gun violence. We’re all just working together to figure out how we can stop the club from growing more, because unfortunately it grows more and more,” said Hogg.

His appearance at today’s rally comes after renewed calls for gun control measures in Minnesota and proposals for greater restrictions on firearm sales.

“I think about what we did after Parkland in Florida, you know we have a deeply republican state legislature and people said you can’t change the laws here it’s very republican, and we did. We raised the age to 21, we made it so that people like the shooter at my high school, who threatened to shoot up my high school multiple times, if that happened now the police could take his guns away through a court order and a right to due process.”

The event was put-on by the Peace United Church of Christ, to celebrate the churches 150th anniversary.

Event coordinators say it was also held to promote a nonviolent world.

“We were trying to figure out what kind of statement could we make and what kind of gift could we give to the Duluth community as part of our 150th anniversary and we think that gun control, gun reform, and ending gun violence is consistent with our 150 year witness for peace making,” said Pastor, Jim Mitulski.

There were other guest speakers at the event, including high school and university students, along with Duluth Mayor Emily Larson.

When asked what he hopes people walk away with from this event, Pastor Mitulski said,  “I hope they come away  a commitment to urging and demanding that our legislators support gun reform now.”

Both David Hogg and the Peace United Church of Chirst plan to continue outreach and activism on gun reform.

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