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David Hogg, survivor and leader of the anti-gun movement

There was a time when David Hogg dreamed of becoming a journalist or an aerospace engineer. A time when he only faced the worries of an ordinary teenager, schooled in Parkland, Florida. He was 17 in February 2018, the day a killer, barely older, entered the school with an assault rifle and killed fourteen students and three adults. This tragedy changed his life forever. He also rushed him into the public arena. Having become a recognized gun control activist within the March for Our Lives movement, David Hogg will be at the forefront of protesters in Washington, Saturday, June 11, during an exceptional day of mobilization in all the countries. It follows the killing of Uvalde (Texas), in which nineteen children perished.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers In Uvalde, Texas, the story of a sadly classic American massacre

Before this new massacre in Texas, David Hogg had deleted Twitter from his phone to focus on his exams. He reconnected immediately. ” I had no choice. » A student at Harvard, he is the figurehead of March for Our Lives, initiated after Parkland. At the time, hundreds of thousands of people had flocked to the American capital. Since then, the young man has sought to overcome the incandescent polarization on weapons, which opposes Republicans and Democrats. He wants to believe that an opening is finally taking shape to move forward. “The movement is stronger than everhe said, in a telephone interview with World. It’s been decades since we’ve been this close to changing something. We must choose hope and action rather than just thoughts and prayers. »

On Twitter, where he has more than 1.1 million subscribers, David Hogg challenges, denounces and encourages, tirelessly, as June 11 approaches. He went to Houston, three days after Uvalde, to protest in front of the building where the convention of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the main arms lobby, was held. “It was amazing, he said. It was 33°C, and the singing was so loud it hurt my ears. Inside they had air conditioning and an old president [Donald Trump] as a guest, but there seemed to be only a few hundred. I really feel like this time things are different. »

Read also: United States: at the NRA convention, the main pro-arms lobby, Donald Trump calls for “arming the citizens”

45,000 gunshot deaths in 2020

Self-belief, communication, classic balance of power? David Hogg has had recent contact with many elected members of Congress. He hopes the Democrats will show a united front and that ten Republicans will come out of their usual trenches to join them, even if the consensus is on minimal bases. A bipartisan group of nine senators was formed to work on two texts. One says the “red flag” would allow the temporary seizure by court order of weapons belonging to a person deemed unstable and dangerous; the other would strengthen background checks for any potential firearm buyer. But the Republicans sanctify the second amendment of the Constitution, and denounce any legislation on the weapons like an attack on this freedom. No question, therefore, of prohibiting the sale of the AR-15, the semi-automatic assault rifle used in all mass killings.

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