Trump needs to ‘talk to these kids’ who survived Florida shooting, Democrat says

ABC News(WASHINGTON) — A Democratic congressman who represents the Florida district where a school shooting last week killed 17 students and teachers said President Donald Trump needs to “talk to these kids and their families.”

Rep. Ted Deutch told ABC News’ This Week Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz that the reform of gun laws that some survivors of the Feb. 14 shooting are demanding could happen if the president meets directly with teens at the Parkland high school who survived the rampage.

Trump needs to “come to Parkland and talk to these kids and their families and everyone who has suffered. That’s what should happen. That’s how change will come,” Deutch said.

The Democratic representative added that the student survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who are demanding gun control are “just not going to sit back after what they experienced, after what they saw — the worst things imaginable. They’re not just going to sit back and take it. They’re going to stand up for their lives.”

A Republican congressman from Florida, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who appeared on This Week with Deutch, agreed that “something has to happen.”

Curbelo noted that he has co-sponsored gun reform legislation, such as a bill to ban bump stocks, attachments that can make semi-automatic rifles fire faster and that were used in a mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. “Co-sponsorship is the most important currency in the Capitol,” he said.

“I think I am part of that new generation that refuses to see this as a black or white issue where we either do everything or we do nothing,” Curbelo said. “We can meet in the middle on this issue.”

Deutch said survivors of the shooting “don’t want to hear about co-sponsoring” of legislation. He faulted Curbelo for supporting Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to lead the House of Representatives, saying Ryan “refuses to bring” gun reform legislation up for a vote.

Curbelo “should talk to the speaker,” Deutch said. “He should come to the speaker with those kids” from Stoneman Douglas High School.

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