Florida Democrat: ’80 percent’ of the US agrees with students on gun control

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) praised the survivors of last week’s shooting at a South Florida high school for speaking out on gun control, estimating that “80 percent” of the U.S. is “on their side.”

“Their voices are permeating through this nation and I think people are listening, and I think that 80 percent of the citizens in this country are on their side,” Wilson told MSNBC’s Ali Velshi on Wednesday. 

{mosads}”Before we didn’t have students rising up. It was members of Congress. It was other members of the community, mothers, fathers. But this time it’s the actual victims. The actual children who have to go to school and stay there in fear of their lives and in fear of who’s going to come to their school and shoot it up,” she continued, speaking of the survivors of last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 people were killed.

“They have the experience, they have the voice, and they definitely have my respect,” Wilson said.

The shooting last week has reignited the nationwide debate over gun control.

Students across the country staged walkouts on Wednesday to demand action on guns from lawmakers. 

Students who survived last week’s shooting in Parkland, Fla., descended on Florida’s capital of Tallahassee on Wednesday with hopes of lobbying state lawmakers on gun control. 

House Republicans in the state’s legislature, however, on Tuesday blocked a Democratic effort to revive debate on a measure to ban assault weapons. Republicans who voted against bringing the bill to the floor for an immediate vote said the process was too rushed.