TALLAHASSEE, Fla. _ It had been announced as a march to the Capitol, but it was more like a funeral procession. There were no hand-written signs, no clever slogans chanted. Just 100 students a week out from the worst day of their lives, a few days out from burying their friends, walking from the Donald Tucker Civic Center to the state Capitol to demand that something change.
At the front of the group was Jaclyn Corin, who had said Friday to state Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, that she wanted to advocate for change in Tallahassee following the shooting. The scores of students she brought with her gave legislators plenty of tough questions to answer.
After small group meetings behind closed doors with Attorney General Pam Bondi _ which Corin said focused on mental health and were "productive" _ the group met en masse with Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart; Senate Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island; and Senate President-designate Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton.
They asked a lot of questions, some of them unanswerable. One girl simply asked through tears why this had to happen to her, and to her friends, some of whom are now dead. Bradley seemed to have a hard time keeping his composure.
"I see my children when I see you. I want you to know how much I appreciate you being here." said Bradley, who has two children in college and one in high school. "I know how it could've been my kids. It's deeply personal to me."
But when asked for a yes or no answer as to whether they would support an age limit of 21 to buy rifles, just as there is now with handguns, both Bradley and Negron said they had to see the final version of bills being put together in the House and Senate as a response to the shooting before committing to an answer.
Galvano was more direct.
"My answer is yes," he said.
There were cheers from the students sitting in the Senate meeting room. It was the first thing that sounded like a real commitment they had heard all day.
Afterward, they sat in the Senate gallery as the lights dimmed and the names and faces of their dead friends appeared on the massive screen over the Senate President's dais.
Afterward, Negron talked about his experience at the funeral of Peter Wang, who held a door open as others escaped and was eventually shot and killed.
"Peter's parents were gracious enough to talk with me briefly about what happened, and I asked them the question, what was it about Peter who was 15 years old, what was it about him that led him to make a choice to allow others to live and ultimately him to not live?" Negron said. "And they told me a little bit about him and the kind of young man he was, and the mother told me that they raised him since he was a child to care for others and to put the interest of other people ahead of his own."
The Senate President had his own problems with composure then, and called a 10-minute recess before session got underway. He disappeared into the back room behind the dais.
