‘Stand up to the NRA and rip off your shock collar’: Parkland teen David Hogg calls out Trump as a ‘coward’
Marjory Stoneman Douglas student David Hogg was furious as he entered his school for the first day back since the massacre on Valentine's Day.
In an interview with CNN's Alisyn Camerota, Hogg said that the past weeks since the shooting have been "frustrating and annoying" watching political leaders in Washington, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, resist doing anything to help stop mass shootings in America.
"They want to sell more guns on behalf of the people who own them, which is the NRA," Hogg said of those pushing weapons in classrooms. "They want to sell more guns. They want to scare more people. They want to get more guns sold so they can get re-elected. They want to scare the people and we don't want to see that happen."
Hogg, who has been the target of attacks and threats online, said the thing that angers him most is that after two weeks policymakers haven't done anything to stop mass shootings.
"None of our glass is being replaced with bullet-proof glass," he went on. "None of our locks that are being replaced are able to be locked from the inside. No legislative action has been taken. All we have now is more guns and more chances for things to go wrong. I mean, think about it this way, what about for a student like me that is going to be at school today? What if I was misidentified as another school shooter? What if there is a blue-on-blue situation where we had a scenario where we had an undercover police officer and they started going off because thought they saw a school shooter and as such they started shooting at each other and slaughtered everything behind?"
Hogg said that the only thing that has changed is that there are "more guns and more chances for things to go wrong."
He called politicians cowards, specifically naming Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) and President Donald Trump.
"They won't stand up to the NRA and rip off their shock collar," he said.
Camerota noted that the state legislature is taking action on some things, including the move to arm teachers.
"That's just a compromise for the GOP's politics," Hogg said. He listed off the things he would like to see the legislature do, including, "raising the federal age of gun ownership and possession to the age of 21, banning all bump stocks, making sure that we have a universal background check, making sure people who are committed of acts of domestic violence aren't able to get a gun. And making sure people who have history of mental illness aren't able to obtain weapons of mass destruction."
"I think the fact that I have had to threaten the entire state of Florida is a testament to how disgusting the state of politics has become," Hogg said. He said that he sees some action, "but at this point seeing everything that's going on is giving me hope. That's why I'm here today. If that bill is not on the House floor at the Florida state level, I wouldn't be here today. I wouldn't feel safe coming to school. Honestly, I don't. we don't have bullet-proof glass. We just have more guns."
He also noted that Scott is holding back the implication of any legislation that takes effect and alleged it was for political reasons.
"Rick Scott is trying to implement it a year later so he can have that happen right around his election," Hogg said. "We can't let that happen. We cannot let that happen. I know he is saying it takes time. It doesn't. He's governor. We saw his response to Hurricane Irma. He cares more about his political agenda."
Watch the full interview below: