Guns and Gear

Marjory Stoneman Douglas Teacher Says Many Students Feel They Are Misrepresented By Famous Classmates

REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
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America knows Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students through mainly a handful of pro-gun control activist students, but according to a faculty member of the school where the deadly shooting took place, many other students say the most visible activists do not represent them.

“I’ve had some students approach me privately to talk to me about it, but I should note that those student activists none of them were ever in any danger during this whole thing…none of them except for the one girl Samantha Fuentes,” the faculty member said, on the condition of anonymity, during an interview with NRATV that aired Friday on Dana Loesch’s “Relentless” program.

The Stoneman Douglas staffer continued, “But I have students in my class that were shot, but you don’t see them. They have the most personal experience of anyone except for that one girl.”

Stoneman Douglas students David Hogg, Emma Gonzales, and Cameron Kasky have been notable media representatives of their school and spoke at the “March for Our Lives” protest in Washington D.C. last Saturday, advocating for gun control policies.

The three student activists have also lashed out at the National Rifle Association, NRA Spokeswoman Dana Loesch, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott, and any lawmaker who accepted money from the NRA.

Hogg is now leading a boycott against advertisers of conservative radio show host Laura Ingraham after Ingraham poked fun at him on Twitter over colleges where he had applied but had not been accepted.

Students privately revealed to the staffer their thoughts when they see one of their classmates on TV or hear them on radio. Many of these unknown students said they do not support what Gonzalez, Hogg, and Kasky are saying in the public sphere, according to the faculty member.

“There have been a lot of my students that have spoken to me about it privately, and they’ve told me word for word as well as paraphrasing that these kids don’t speak for all students.”

The faculty member noted the constant spotlight on the school is not helping matters much since alleged gunman Nicolas Cruz shot and killed 17 staff and teens on February 14.

“Every single day since we’ve come back to school, I have kids out in the hall crying because of the emotional toll that it’s taken, and we haven’t started to heal yet, because we’re in the news every single day, and every single day there are helicopters circling overhead.”

The staffer added,  “It’s another thing going on like the kids with weapons that were found on school property and the shooter’s brother on school property and it’s just we can’t get away from it.”

Kerry Picket is a correspondent for NRATV and host on SiriusXM Patriot 125

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