Parkland shooting survivor condemns inaction of pro-gun Republicans who ‘march for hours over a rainbow wedding cake’

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Cameron Kasky speaks with the media in Parkland, Florida on February 16, 2018, two days after former student Nikolas Cruz opened fire at the school leaving 17 people dead and 15 injured. Stoneman Douglas students have taken to social media to blast defenders of the nation's loose gun laws. In an eloquent essay published online, 17-year-old Cameron Kasky blasted both Republican and Democratic politicians for not doing anything. "We can't ignore the issues of gun control that this tragedy raises," he wrote. "And so, I'm asking -- no, demanding -- we take action now. Why? Because at the end of the day, the students at my school felt one shared experience -- our politicians abandoned us by failing to keep guns out of schools." / AFP PHOTO / RHONA WISE (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

A survivor of the Parkland high school shooting has torn into Republican politicians for responding to massacres with “thoughts and prayers” but marching over anti-LGBT positions.

Former Stoneman Douglas High School student Nikolas Cruz killed 17 on Wednesday with a legally purchased AR-15 rifle – just one of five he bought over the past year, according to CNN.

After one member of an Instagram group chat he was in expressed hatred for gay people, Cruz agreed, saying, “Shoot them in the back of head.”

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Cameron Kasky, a senior at the school, told CNN host Anderson Cooper – who was also on the ground in Florida after the Orlando massacre – that the time for meaningless words was over.

He said: “There’s a section of this society that will just shrug this off and send their thoughts and prayers, but will march for hours when they have to bake a rainbow wedding cake.”

Kasky was referring to the case currently in the US Supreme Court of Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, who refused to bake a cake for a gay couple.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Cameron Kasky speaks with the media in Parkland, Florida on February 16, 2018, two days after former student Nikolas Cruz opened fire at the school leaving 17 people dead and 15 injured.  Stoneman Douglas students have taken to social media to blast defenders of the nation's loose gun laws. In an eloquent essay published online, 17-year-old Cameron Kasky blasted both Republican and Democratic politicians for not doing anything. "We can't ignore the issues of gun control that this tragedy raises," he wrote. "And so, I'm asking -- no, demanding -- we take action now. Why? Because at the end of the day, the students at my school felt one shared experience -- our politicians abandoned us by failing to keep guns out of schools."  / AFP PHOTO / RHONA WISE        (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

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He continued: “Everything I’ve heard where ‘We can’t do anything’ and ‘It’s out of our hands, it’s inevitable’ – I think that’s a facade that the GOP is putting up.

“I think that’s what they want us to think. I think that after every shooting, the NRA sends them a memo saying: ‘Send your thoughts and prayers, say let’s not talk about it now, say this happens.’

“This is the only country where this kind of thing happens. I’ve been hearing things from people; they don’t have gun drills the way we do.

PARKLAND, FL - FEBRUARY 17:  Debby Stout (L) whose daughter was in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when 17 people were killed is hugged by Lori Feldman during a protest against guns on February 17, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Earlier this week former student Nikolas Cruz opened fire with a AR-15 rifle at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killing 17 people.  (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images,)

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“We had to prepare extensively at Stoneman Douglas, and that shocked people. This is something that can be stopped, and this is something that will be stopped.”


The student attacked Republican representatives like anti-LGBT US Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Rick Scott, who he said appeared to be “the only people who don’t care”.

Rubio was targeted this week by a protest in the style of Oscar-nominated film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

PARKLAND, FL - FEBRUARY 16:  Students gather around a memorial cross that honors victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, at Pine Trail Park on February 16, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Police arrested 19 year old former student Nikolas Cruz for killing 17 people at the high school.  (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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The messages read: “Slaughtered in school,” “And still no gun control?” “How come, Marco Rubio?”

When Cooper observed that some will say that gun legislation shouldn’t be discussed just yet, Kasky was clear in his opposition.

“This is the time to talk about guns,” he said.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Cameron Kasky speaks at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 17, 2018.  Seventeen perished and more than a dozen were wounded in the hail of bullets at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,Florida the latest mass shooting to devastate a small US community and renew calls for gun control. / AFP PHOTO / RHONA WISE        (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

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“Thoughts and prayers are appreciated… but there’s much more that can be done, much more that needs to be done, and much more that people like Marco Rubio and Rick Scott are not doing.

“And it’s scary to think that these are the people who are making our laws, when our community just took 17 bullets to the heart.

A memorial for student Joaquin Oliver and assistant football coach Aaron Feis, two of the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, sits in a park in Parkland, Florida on February 16, 2018.   A former student, Nikolas Cruz, opened fire at the Florida high school leaving 17 people dead and 15 injured. / AFP PHOTO / RHONA WISE        (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

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“And it feels like the only people who don’t care are the people making the laws,” he added.

He also paid tribute to security guards and staff at the school, including one – football coach Aaron Feis – who gave their life to save students.

Watch Cameron’s interview here:

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