March 24, 2018

March for Our Lives will 'start a revolution,' Parkland school-shooting survivor says

WATCH: Student activist talks gun control and 'March for Our Lives' rally

A student survivor of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, who is helping to lead the March for Our Lives for gun control said today's protests in Washington, D.C., and around the country "are going to start a revolution."

"We are sick and tired of the inaction here in Washington and around the country" by politicians who are "owned by the NRA," David Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, said on "Good Morning America" this morning. "Today we are going to start a revolution."

"We will change America with or without these politicians," continued Hogg, who lost 17 classmates and teachers in the mass shooting on Feb. 14.

Organizers of March for Our Lives expect hundreds of thousands of people to converge on Washington, D.C., for the main event there, with hundreds of other protests also planned today around the country and the world.

Hogg was asked about Parkland survivors' hopeful slogan of #NeverAgain after the massacre at their school considering there was another school shooting this week in Maryland high school in which one female student died and the male gunman was killed by a school-resource officer.

The Florida teen suggested the problem of gun violence has an array of causes in addition to the need for more firearms restrictions.

"It's due to a ... mental health care problem, a gun control problem, and an American problem," he said.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times via Redux
David Hogg, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas student and activist, speaks with students about activism in the face of gun violence at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, March 22, 2018. With more than 800 student-led demonstrations planned in the United States and internationally, the organizers of the March for Our Lives are aiming for a generational show of force by an enormous, diverse movement united in a conviction that adults have failed them.

Hogg has been a harsh critic of the National Rifle Association.

The NRA is "just disgusting," hen told ABC News' "This Week" last month. "They act like they don't still own these politicians, but they do."

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David Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, shared a powerful message in the wake of the school shooting on "Good Morning America," Feb. 15, 2018.

Since the Parkland school shooting, Hogg and classmates, including Cameron Kasky, Emma Gonzalez, Alex Wind and Jaclyn Corin, have played a leading role in helping to jumpstart a movement for greater restrictions on guns. A GoFundMe for March for Our Lives raised $3.3 million, and celebrities such as George and Amal Clooney and Oprah Winfrey contributed.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Students Kelsey Friend and David Hogg recount their stories about yesterday's mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Feb. 15, 2018.
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