Florida school shooting: Emotional students return to tightly-guarded scene of massacre as gun debate rages

Emotional: A returning student reacts as he walks to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
AP
Chloe Chaplain28 February 2018

Students and teachers wove through a tight cordon of armed police officers as they returned to the scene of the Florida shooting massacre for a half-day of lessons.

Families stood at the entrance to the school in a show of support as around 3,000 pupils filed past the piles of flowers, balloons and tributes left in memory of the 17 people killed in the Valentine’s Day shooting,

It was the first time lessons had resumed since the accused, teenager Nikolas Cruz, allegedly opened fire in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and thrust students into the centre of a national debate on gun laws.

Armed police patrolled the school in a bid to make the traumatised pupils and teachers feel safer and were accompanied by emotional support animals including therapy dogs.

Emotional: Pupils were handed carnations as they walked up to the school
Getty Images

Grief counsellors were on campus as well "to provide a lot of love, a lot of understanding" and help students "ease back" into their school routines, Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said.

Principal Ty Thomas tweeted that "our focus is on emotional readiness and comfort not curriculum: so there is no need for backpacks."

But several students were unnerved by the military-style rifles being carried by officers – like that believed to have been used by Cruz – and the sheer number of police in attendance.

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"This is a picture of education in fear in this country,” David Hogg, a leading voice in the students' movement to control assault weapons, said.

“The NRA wants more people just like this, with that exact firearm to scare more people and sell more guns. I know one of those bullets could be shredding through me if I was misidentified as a school shooter."

The day began during fourth period, which was when the shooting took place, so teachers and students would be starting back at school with those they had been with at the time of the tragedy.

Support: People arrived with emotional support animals, including horses and donkeys, to help the students
Getty Images

Not all of the sprawling school was reopened. The building where the 14 students and three teachers were killed remained cordoned off.

Many of the students said the focus of the national debate on new gun laws has helped them process the traumatic event, and prepared them to return to the scene.

Their return to school came as retailer Dick's Sporting Goods announced it will immediately end sales of assault-style rifles in all stores and won't sell guns to anyone under 21 years old.

Retailers: Guns on display at the Dick's Sporting Goods
EPA

It also will ban the sale of high-capacity magazines that allow people to fire more shots before reloading.

Dick's Chairman and CEO Edward Stack said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the company "felt it needed to do something."

"We have to help solve the problem that's in front of us," he said in a statement. “Gun violence is an epidemic that's taking the lives of too many people."

Dick's had removed assault-style weapons from its stores after the 2012 massacre of 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, but later brought them back in some stores.

Mr Stack said the system that's in place won't stop sales to dangerous people and said lawmakers must do something. He also said the company is prepared for any potential backlash, but won't change its policies on gun sales.

On Tuesday a Florida State House committee voted in favour of a bill to raise the age limit to buy long guns from 18 to 21.

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The bill would also create a program that would allow teachers to carry concealed weapons in their classrooms providing they have law-enforcement training and are deputized by the local sheriff's office.

But Republican leaders of the US Congress on Tuesday rejected new limits on guns after the attack, saying they would not raise the minimum age to buy guns.

And the National Rifle Association has lobbied forcefully against any restrictions on gun sales, saying they infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens.

Following the shooting, several large American companies said they were ending programs that offered discounts or other benefits to NRA members.

Some have faced blowback, particularly in Georgia where a lawmaker said he would try to stop lucrative tax benefits for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines after it cut ties with the group.

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