The school shooting in Parkland, Fl. was reportedly the 17th of 2018, with 17 students and faculty dead by gunman.

The suspect apprehended after the event, Nikolas Cruz, had allegedly worried classmates prior to the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School.

Cruz, the shooter, reportedly has deep psychological mental health issues, according to a South Florida mental health facility, and purchased more than five rifles in the past year. Students of the high school have reported Cruz to authorities in the past. Students now are speaking out for stricter gun control to prohibit another attack like the one that took place Feb. 14.

“We know that they are claiming mental health issues and I am not a psychologist, but we need to pay attention to the fact that this was not just a mental health issue. He would not have harmed that many students with a knife,” student Emma Gonzalez cried out at an anti-gun rally a few short days after the shooting.

The push for stricter gun control laws has been met with plenty of scrutiny predominantly from republicans who claim that people would still find ways to obtain firearms and that it would not change anything. Students who should be mourning the death of their peers and teachers are instead what some call the leading force of change after last week’s shooting. Students are sharing their point of view in anyway they can, people are protesting in Washington chanting their demands and speaking out for the change they wish to see.

“Whether we are Republican or Democrat, we must now focus on strengthening Background Checks,” President Donald Trump tweeted Feb. 20.

Florida lawmakers are refusing to take up assault rifle bill, imposed after Feb. 14 shooting. The bill to ban assault rifles was turned down, leaving advocates for gun control very upset. Assault rifles in particular have become the center of attention in the fight for more gun control. The shooting has reminded state law that a judge has the authority to take weapons away from those who they believe qualify as unfit.