Stars have called for tighter gun controls in the US after at least 17 people were killed in a school shooting in Florida on Valentine’s Day.
A 19-year-old former student who had been expelled from the high school in Parkland had been arrested over the shooting and was equipped with at least one rifle, police said.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office identified Nikolas Cruz as the suspected shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who opened fire on Wednesday afternoon.
Kim Kardashian West and actress Julianne Moore were among those calling for stronger restrictions in the wake of the atrocity.
Boogie Nights actress Moore tweeted: “The 18th school shooting in the US since January. It is heartbreaking. What will it take to change our nation’s gun laws ???”
Kardashian West said: “We owe it to our children and our teachers to keep them safe while at school. Prayers won’t do this: action will. Congress, please do your job and protect Americans from senseless gun violence.”
Singer Nancy Sinatra called on the Republican Party to pass “sensible” gun laws immediately.
“Seventeen more of our young people dead, killed by a shooter with an automatic weapon he had no business having,” she added.
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres said: “No words, no actions, no laws are enough until we end this epidemic of school shootings in our country.”
Sheriff Scott Israel said that the suspect had at least one rifle and multiple magazines.
While some fatalities were found outside the building, most were inside, he added.
The school had been placed on lockdown before the suspect was apprehended.
US President Donald Trump sent his “prayers and condolences” to the families of those who died in the “terrible” shooting.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel