CNN’s town hall broadcast triggered an intense debate on gun control that spilled into the crowd and rumbled along online.
During the two-hour “Stand Up” session, Republican senator Marco Rubio and NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch went on the defensive as students, teachers and parents demanded stricter measures after the massacre at Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 children died.
In one exchange, a student named Cameron Kasky asked Rubio directly, “Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA?” And in another, Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the rampage, told Rubio that his comments about the shooting and those of the president “have been pathetically weak.”
John Legend, Diplo, Zendaya and Sarah Silverman were among the artists and celebs who watched on and joined the conversation across social media. Read some of the comments below.
Arms dealers love arms races.
— John Legend (@johnlegend) February 22, 2018
You have to be 25 to rent a car #StudentsStandUp
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) February 22, 2018
I thank the God I can’t imagine exists that these kids are our future #phew #StudentsStandUp
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) February 22, 2018
Wow you hold office. Crazy world. Okay- u seem to be intimating that universal health care & vegetarianism lead to genicode. I would propose that banning people bc of their religion, or deporting brown people for whom America is their only home is a lil more… down that path? https://t.co/TogH5VHomM
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) February 22, 2018
It’s crazy the kids in our country have to ask politicians to be kept alive .. https://t.co/gZ9qrv1tBV
— dip (@diplo) February 22, 2018
so teenagers can own assault rifles but not have their own opinions? https://t.co/fKvqnsCraj
— dip (@diplo) February 22, 2018
Data on the effect of the assault weapons ban. The ban is designed to prevent massacres, not gun violence writ large. It’s only a small portion of the solution to our gun violence problem. But it’s an important step toward ending the American epidemic of mass shooting https://t.co/2ced5P2Vrm
— John Legend (@johnlegend) February 22, 2018
You’ll note that all NRA-sponsored politicians suggest gun violence solutions that involve more guns being bought and sold. I wonder why that is —
— John Legend (@johnlegend) February 22, 2018
The fact this is up for discussion is totally absurd. But this is a good thread to hopefully obliterate the COMPLETELY LUDICROUS idea that arming teachers is the solution to school shootings. https://t.co/yf4jHfpCOR
— John Legend (@johnlegend) February 21, 2018
We don’t pay our teachers enough to TEACH. Now these fools want them to double as armed security. Meanwhile our kids are the active shooter drill generation.
— John Legend (@johnlegend) February 21, 2018
Teens dunking on Marco Rubio is my favorite Olympic sport.
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) February 22, 2018
In the wake of Sandy Hook, 54 Senators supported Obama’s push for stronger background checks, including 4 Republicans.
Marco Rubio wasn’t one of them.
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) February 22, 2018
Young people are so powerful… #StudentsStandUp
— Zendaya (@Zendaya) February 22, 2018
So moved and impressed by these teens ?? their strength to fight and stand up to more evil even after going through something so traumatic #StudentsStandUp
— Tove Lo (@ToveLo) February 22, 2018