Political reaction , two days after the shooting. President Trump offered his prayers and condolences to the victims' families, writing, "no child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school." In a televised address, he mentioned school
safety and
mental health issues. Florida Governor
Rick Scott ordered that flags at state buildings be flown at
half-staff. Two days after the shooting, Trump and the first lady
Melania visited Broward Health North, a hospital where eight of the shooting victims were admitted. They met with two victims and Trump praised doctors and law enforcement officials for their responses to the attack. On , Trump met with students and others for a "listening session" at the White House. He suggested arming up to 20% of the teachers to stop "maniacs" from attacking students. The following day, he called a "gun-free" school a "magnet" for criminals and tweeted, "Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive."
BBC News characterized
Republican politicians' reactions as focusing on mental health issues while dodging debate on
gun control, with the reasoning that it was either "too political or too soon." Republican
House Speaker Paul Ryan said that this was the time to "step back and count our blessings" instead of "taking sides and fighting each other politically." Republican Florida Senator
Marco Rubio said that "most" proposals on stricter gun laws "would not have prevented" this shooting nor "any of those in recent history" and that lawmakers should take action with "focus on the violence part" alongside guns. Republican Kentucky Governor
Matt Bevin declared that the country should re-evaluate "the things being put in the hands of our young people," specifically "quote-unquote video games" that "have desensitized people to the value of human life." Republican Senator
Pat Roberts of
Kansas said he supported age restrictions on the ownership of
AR-15-style rifles, saying "Certainly nobody under 21 should have an AR-15." Republican Senator from Oklahoma
James Lankford said on
NBC News'
Meet the Press he was open to requiring more comprehensive
background checks for firearm purchases, saying "The problem is not owning an AR-15, it's the person who owns it." Republican governor of Ohio
John Kasich called for restrictions on the sales of AR-15-style rifles, saying on CNN "if all of a sudden, you couldn't buy an AR-15, what would you lose? Would you feel as though your Second Amendment rights would be eroded because you couldn't buy a God-darn AR-15?" Republican Representative
Brian Mast from Florida, a former resident of Parkland and an Army veteran, wrote in an op-ed in
The New York Times that he supported a
ban on the sale of civilian versions of military rifles, writing: Most nights in Afghanistan, I wielded an M4 carbine. My rifle was very similar to the AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon used to kill students, teachers and a coach I knew at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where I once lived...I cannot support the primary weapon I used to defend our people being used to kill children I swore to defend. The AR-15 is an excellent platform for recreational shooters to learn to be outstanding marksmen. Unfortunately, it is also an excellent platform for those who wish to kill the innocent.
Al Hoffman Jr., a Republican donor in Florida, pledged that he would no longer fund legislative groups or candidates who were not actively working to ban sales of military-style weapons to civilians. He said, "For how many years now have we been doing this—having these experiences of terrorism, mass killings—and how many years has it been that nothing's been done?" Sheriff Israel called on lawmakers to amend the Baker Act to allow police to detain and hospitalize people who make disturbing posts—not just clear threats—on social media. "I'm talking about being around bombs, possibly talking about 'I want to be a serial killer,' talking about taking people's lives," he said. "Just taking a picture with a gun or a knife or a weapon—that in and of itself is clearly not even remotely something that we're concerned about."
Gun control debate Many student survivors criticized the response from politicians and asked them not to offer condolences but to take action to prevent more students from being killed in school shootings. These students have demanded stricter gun control measures. Survivor
X González was noted for their speech that rebuked
thoughts and prayers from politicians. They later helped lead a protest movement against
gun violence in the United States.
Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said, "now is the time to have a real conversation about gun control legislation." Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter was killed in the shooting, implored Trump to do something to improve school safety. In the aftermath of the shooting, some of the student survivors organized Never Again MSD. The group was created on social media with the hashtag #NeverAgain, activism inspired in part by the ground broken by the
#MeToo movement and the
2018 Women's March. The group demanded legislative action to prevent similar shootings and has condemned lawmakers who received political contributions from the
National Rifle Association. The group held a rally on in Fort Lauderdale that was attended by hundreds of supporters. Since the shooting, several more rallies have been planned to take place with the focus on legislative action. The Women's March Network organized a school walkout that took place on . A series of demonstrations called "
March for Our Lives" on included a march in Washington, D.C. On , the anniversary of the
Columbine High School massacre, all-day walkouts were planned for teacher groups by educators
Diane Ravitch and
David Berliner, as well as student groups. On , dozens of Stoneman Douglas High School students went to the state Capitol in Tallahassee and watched as the Florida House of Representatives rejected a bill that would have banned some guns characterized as assault weapons. Students strongly criticized the vote. The bill's sponsor,
Carlos Guillermo Smith, highlighted the legislature's failure to respond to the use of an assault weapon in the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, while passing a bill to declare that pornography is a public health risk. In mid-March, Lori Alhadeff announced her own nonprofit organization, Make Schools Safe, which will be mostly focusing on school campus security. In May 2018,
Cameron Kasky's father registered a
super PAC, Families vs Assault Rifles PAC (FAMSVARPAC), with intentions of going "up against NRA candidates in every meaningful race in the country."
State law In March 2018, the
Florida Legislature passed a bill titled the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. It raised the minimum age for buying rifles to 21, established waiting periods and
background checks, provided a program for the arming of some school employees and hiring of school police, banned
bump stocks, and barred some potentially violent or mentally unhealthy people arrested under certain laws from possessing guns. In all, it allocated around . Rick Scott signed the bill into law on . The
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida upheld the constitutionality of the law and dismissed the NRA's suit in June 2021. The NRA then filed its appeal to the
Eleventh Circuit, where a three-judge panel initially upheld the law's constitutionality on March 9, 2023. However, on the same day, an appellate judge withheld the mandate of the opinion, and on July 14, 2023, the Eleventh Circuit granted the NRA's petition to rehear it
en banc. On March 26, 2025, the
Florida House of Representatives passed a bill titled the Minimum Age for Firearm Purchase or Transfer Act, which was sponsored by
Michelle Salzman and endorsed by governor
Ron DeSantis, to lower the minimum age for purchasing long guns back to 18. Salzman said the purpose of the bill was "about the right to defend yourself, the right to keep and bear arms, [and] the right to a well-armed militia" and "not about the tragedy". On April 21, Senate Rules Chairwoman
Kathleen Passidomo said that her committee would not take a vote on the House bill. Passidomo's statement came five days after a
mass shooting at
Florida State University, but she also said that the decision had been made before the attack.
Federal law On February 20, 2018, Trump directed the
Department of Justice to issue regulations to ban bump stocks. On , the
STOP School Violence Act was signed into law as part of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, which increases funding for metal detectors, security training, and similar safety measures. Lawmakers made it clear it was in response to the shooting and the public outcry. Some students from the Stoneman Douglas High School, who were active in calling for stricter gun control (not just safety measures), said the measure was passed because lawmakers "pass something very easy and simple that everyone can get behind. But that's because it doesn't do anything."
Boycott of NRA and responses from businesses Following the shooting, people boycotted
gun rights advocacy groups including the
National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and its business affiliates. Many companies responded to the shooting by changing some of their business dealings and practices. Calls for companies to sever their ties to the NRA were heeded when several companies terminated their business relationships with the NRA. Major gun sellers such as
Dick's,
Walmart, and
Fred Meyer voluntarily raised the age requirement on gun purchases from 18 to 21. The NRA challenged the new age requirement in court. Other businesses like
Bank of America and
Citibank also ended some of their dealings with gun manufacturers and vendors. In addition, victim Scott Beigel's family started a memorial fund in his name with the goal of funding summer camp tuition for students traumatized by school shootings, a passion of Beigel. The memorial fund is majorly involved with events, including a
5K run, and partnered with
Oneida-based Camp Fiver, which also gave the fund an honorary award. One such claim was made by Benjamin A. Kelly, a district secretary for Republican State Representative
Shawn Harrison, who sent an email to the
Tampa Bay Times falsely stating that the children in the picture were not students at the school. As the shooting took place, a teacher directed Hogg and several other students to hide in a closet. Hogg, who worked on the school's TV station, then filmed student reactions to the shooting in an effort to document the event. The
Alliance for Securing Democracy alleged that
Russia-linked accounts on
Twitter and other platforms used the shooting's aftermath to inflame tensions and divide Americans by posting loaded comments that oppose gun control. Other Russia-linked accounts labeled the shooting a
false flag operation that the U.S. government would exploit to seize guns from citizens. Hundreds of Russian bots were also suspected of coming to the defense of
Laura Ingraham on Twitter following the
boycott of her show, The Ingraham Angle, that resulted from her public ridicule of Hogg. The conspiracy theories about survivors like Hogg and González were named
PolitiFact's 2018 Lie of the Year. Some of the survivors of the shooting and their relatives were targeted by
online harassment that included
death threats. Cameron Kasky wrote on Twitter that he was quitting
Facebook for the time being, because the death threats from "NRA cultists" were slightly more graphic on a service without a character limit. In March 2019, future
U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (
R-
GA) was filmed heckling and harassing survivor David Hogg as he was walking toward the
United States Capitol. == See also ==