When 19-year-old Waed Alhayek was seven, she and a friend went to a convenience store near her home in Dearborn, Michigan, to get snacks for movie night. A man burst in and held up the store at gunpoint. "I thought I was going to die," she tells Raw Story. "I'm so blessed to be alive now."
"I know what it feels like to hear bullet shots what it's like to be afraid to die," she says, as she tries to describe her reaction to yet another mass shooting at a Santa Fe Texas high school. "We're afraid to go to school. Imagine those kids sitting in their high school terrified."
"I don't know if I should be sad or pissed off," she says. Alhayek is an organizer with the Dallas, Texas chapter of March for Our Lives and she knows exactly who to be pissed off at. "The politicians in the pockets of the gun lobby, which profits over people."
As reports of casualties trickled in, the president tweeted out thoughts and prayers. "School shooting in Texas. Early reports not looking good. God bless all!" Later at a press conference Trump said, "To the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High School – we are with you in this tragic hour, and we will be with you forever..."
But Alhayek and other students galvanized to action are tired of lofty rhetoric followed by inaction. "Our president has proven time and time again that he speaks from both sides of his mouth on this issue. But same for Texas politicians like Ted Cruz and John Cornyn."
"At some point you start thinking do they use the same template of tweet? It's all 'My heart is broken at the news, thoughts and prayers for the family..."
The March for Our Lives website lets students register to vote and they also provide information on which politicians are good on gun policy and which ones are failing at their basic function of protecting their constituents. "They're so comfortable in their seats with the fact that they've stayed in office so long without actually doing anything. In November, a whole new generation will be able to vote and they're pissed."