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AFP
Coral Springs
When the gunshots rang out at her Florida high school, Lorena Sanabria hid in a classroom with friends, forced to listen to the blood-curdling screams of victims as they waited for help and prayed they wouldn't be next.
Now Lorena, 16, is among a new wave of survivors determined to add their uniquely powerful voices to the cause of gun control, which has failed to make headway despite the alarming frequency of such attacks in the United States.
Seventeen perished and more than a dozen were wounded in the hail of bullets at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the latest mass shooting to devastate a small US community and renew calls for gun control.
In an emotional interview in which she frequently fought back tears, the dark-haired teen admitted that despite a keen interest in women's rights and equality, she had never considered herself particularly interested in politics, until now.
"I think that now more than ever, us as students, we should use our voice, you know the voices through the cameras -- we should use this to speak directly to the government... and beg them to please make changes to the policies," she told AFP.
Among the policies Lorena wants to see reformed are the ease with which Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old gunman behind the massacre, was able to purchase his military-grade AR-15 assault rifle legally, because he did not have a criminal record.
"It shouldn't be normal that parents should be worrying about sending their kids with bulletproof backpacks" to school, she added.
Demand has reportedly surged for such backpacks in the aftermath of the shooting, which online giant Amazon sells from $140 up.
Since January 2013, there have been at least 291 school shootings across the country, an average of one a week, according to the non-profit group Everytown for Gun Safety.
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18/02/2018
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