THOUSANDS of students returned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida yesterday for the first time since a gunman shot dead 17 people on Valentine’s Day.

Grief counsellors and about 50 heavily armed police officers were also on hand.

The counsellors were there “to provide a lot of love, a lot of understanding” and to help students ease back into their school routines, said Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie.

The police were there to provide protection and reassurance.

David Hogg, who has become a leading voice in the students’ movement to control assault weapons, said: “This is a picture of education in fear in this country. The NRA [National Rifle Association] wants more people just like this, with that exact firearm to scare more people and sell more guns.

“I know one of those bullets could be shredding through me if I was misidentified as a school shooter”.

It was an emotional, almost surreal, moment for students, staff, police, parents and teachers as they passed through a security cordon against a backdrop of cars circling the school amid a long line of TV trucks and media vans.

A group of residents sang Let it Shine outside the school; crossing guards and local officers hugged students and welcomed them back.

Parents, friends and neighbours lined the pavements holding signs of encouragement, such as “We stand with you.” Someone brought a pony and a sign promising: “Free pony kisses.”

A “Welcome Back Eagles” banner covered the main entrance, and the walkway leading on to the campus was lined with flowers, photographs and other memorials to the those killed.

The class schedule started with fourth period, so that students and teachers could return to the people they were with during the shooting.

The building where the massacre took place remains cordoned off.

Candace Caine dropped her daughter off at school and said she’s counting the minutes until she can see her again.

She said: “She struggled last night and couldn’t sleep. She was moaning and groaning the whole time we were getting to school but she did it.”

Her daughter, Maddy King, was in the building where the 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former student, opened fire with an AR-15 rifle.

Casey Sherman, a 17-year-old pupil, thinks the schedule was a good idea so students can “get it over with,” and not worry about it all day. Up until 11.30 pm the night before working on preparations for the March 14 national school walkout against gun violence, she said she’s not afraid to be returning, just nervous.

“We did go through a tragedy,” said Sherman, who walked in holding hands with her boyfriend. “It was terrible but if you let it stop you ... it’s not how you go down, it’s how you get back up.”

Students from the school walked to the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee yesterday, to lobby legislators on gun laws. It is a school transformed since Cruz began his rampage near the end of classes. Over seven minutes, after setting off a fire alarm, the gunman killed 14 students and three teachers before casually fleeing.

Cruz, known as a troubled student with a series of encounters with police and social workers over his erratic behaviour, was apprehended nearby and charged with multiple counts of premeditated murder.

The ordeal hurled the school into the centre of a heated debate over how to stop a seemingly endless series of mass shootings.

It thrust students like Hogg, Emma Gonzalez and Cameron Kasky into the national spotlight as they ignited a nationwide movement by young people calling for gun control measures, and an end to such mass killings.

Almost overnight, they organized marches for March 24 in Washington and around the country and turned up at televised debates with senators and on national TV.

After the whirlwind, Wednesday was a time for classes and an attempt to restore some normality.

Douglas sophomore Charlotte Dixon said some of her friends are having a hard time returning to classes. But they are encouraged by the attention to gun laws their actions have brought.

“I’m so glad that people are stepping forward and talking about keeping it relevant … because it shouldn’t happen to anyone ever again,” Dixon said.

Parents of Marjory Stoneman Douglas victims were in Tallahassee on Tuesday as Florida lawmakers considered gun legislation.

A House committee approved a bill that would raise the minimum age for long gun buyers and let some teachers carry arms.

Relatives of the Stoneman Douglas victims kept up the pressure in Florida’s lawmakers with emotional testimony during a legislative hearing to discuss passing a bill that would, among other things, raise the age limit to buy long guns from 18 to 21.

The bill would also would create a programme that allows teachers who receive law-enforcement training and are deputised by the local sheriff’s office to carry concealed weapons in the classroom.

But the local schools superintendent said he is opposed to the move.