"39 Days": How Parkland shooting survivors turned grief into action
CBS News journalists, embedded with survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, take viewers inside the creation of a movement as students turn grief into action in the documentary "39 Days."
In the days after a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shot and killed 17 people, CBS News began following a group of students who banded together to fight back. They set out to let the world know immediate change is needed to save lives. The documentary captures students' raw emotions as they grieve and work around-the-clock in an effort to change the gun laws of this country.
Journalists were also embedded with Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the shooting. Pollack's searing and powerful speech at the White House has made him one of the most visible of the victims' parents.
"39 Days" includes strong voices from the second amendment conversation. The documentary presents a timeline of the tumultuous events from the first day of the shooting to the "March for Our Lives," rally, which took take place in Washington, D.C. and cities around the country — and the world.
Matt Walker | Student: I thought it was a drill at first. So I pull out my phone quickly because I want to record what's going on. And it's just a coincidence when I started recording that he shot into our class.
Cellphone video of shooting: "Holy s---…Holy sh--! Oh my God! Oh my God!"
[Teacher Ivy Shamis and a group of her students]
Dylan Kramer | Student: I checked Nick's pulse. I couldn't reach Helena. She was farther away. But Nick was right next to me. So, I checked his pulse and so did Sam. …And then I saw Nick and Helena were dead.
Kaitlyn Jesionowski | Student: I called my mom at like the same time Dylan called the police. And she could hear the gun shots, shecould hear the fire alarm, people screaming.
Ivy Schamis | Teacher: Your mom?
Kaitlyn Jesionowski: Yeah. And I was like – I told her – I was like "I checked their pulses." ... I was holding Helena's hand. And my mom could hear all these things and I told her to hang up.
IVY SCHAMIS: Within seconds we were all cowering in corners of the class and looking through that front door and saw that barrel of the gun coming through and just shooting trying to aim at students in the classroom.
Operator: 911. What is the emergency?
Operator: Hello, where are you?
Student: Stoneman Douglas High School.
Operator: What is going on? Who?
Student: Please, he's shooting at us. Please. Please, I'm begging you. Please. Please, please, please.
Operator: Alright, help is on the way, ma'am. Stay on the phone with me, ma'am [crying]
Operator: I'm getting a school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Student: Please hurry. Please hurry. Please hurry.
IVY SCHAMIS: When the SWAT team came in …They just said "run." … Run and put your hands up and run. And don't look down.
Cellphone video of kids running out of building: "Let's go, let's go, let's go…run, run, run…"
Dispatch: The suspect is going to be a white male, possibly Nikolas Cruz.
POLICE SAY 19-YEAR-OLD NIKOLAS CRUZ USED AN AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLE. HE BOUGHT THE GUN LEGALLY. HIS SIX-MINUTE RAMPAGE LEFT 17 WOUNDED AND 17 DEAD.
Matt Walker [group interview]: A lot of people have been telling me that the video really made people realize that this was a terrible massacre. It made people see what actually happened, And I feel like that pushed forward to a change.
3 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
FORT LAUDERDALE GUN CONTROL RALLY
Delaney Tarr | Student journalist [addressing crowd]: He was able to legally purchase that semi-automatic rifle and come into my school and slaughter 17 of my people.
Delaney Tarr [addressing crowd]: Because of these gun laws, people that I know, people that I love have died. And I will never be able to see them again.
Delaney Tarr: Seventeen people of my peers, my teachers, they died. ...Ultimately, the only way I feel I can really heal is if I try to make a difference.
Delaney Tarr [addressing crowd, visibly shaking]: Because of the systematic failure of our government on every level, people are dying every day.
David Hogg | Student journalist[addressing crowd] The fact that all of you are out here today is showing that this is a turning point in American history ...
DAVID HOGG: I didn't know most of these people at a very personal level, but I wanted to make their voices heard and that's what I'm really trying to do.
Cameron Kasky | Student [addressing crowd]: This is about creating a badge of shame to put on anybody who is accepting money from the NRA.
CAMERON KASKY: The people who are telling me that I don't know what I'm talking about, in regards to everything except this, you are 100 percent right. But in regard to school shootings … you haven't seen your friends perish the way we have.
Emma González | Student activist [addressing crowd]: They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence. We call BS! … That us kids don't know what we're talking about. That we're too young to understand how the government works. We call BS!
EMMA GONZÁLEZ: We're trying to get people to stop dying. …That was the beginning of like who I am now. What has happened. …I'm not the same person because, like, all of that information has traveled at like light speed.
6 HOURS AFTER THE RALLY
Delaney Tarr: It wasn't even like an intentional — we all grouped together. It was — we all had these different things that we were saying and different things we were doing that people were responding to. And that was just kind of a natural push to get us to come together and for us to become, like, a united force.
DAVID HOGG: On the day of the shooting, I got my camera and got on my bike and rode as fast as I could three miles from my house to the school to get as much video and to get as many interviews as I could because I knew that this could not be another mass shooting.
DELANEY TARR: This is not about us.
EMMA GONZÁLEZ: What we are doing it telling the truth.
DELANEY TARR: This is not about us. This has never been about us. This is about the movement. This is about the people who have died. The heroes. Those who have suffered.
EMMA GONZÁLEZ" We have been talking about this for the past three days nonstop. And they haven't done a single damn thing. They've tweeted about it. President Trump was here for 20 minutes.
"CBS This Morning" [Feb. 17]: On Friday, the president visited Parkland school shooting victims, but ignored questions on gun control.
Reporter to President: Do our gun laws need to be changed Mr. President?
President Trump: [does not answer]
EMMA GONZÁLEZ : …but the people who actually have the opportunity to make the change are doing, excuse my language, jack s---. They have done not a single damn thing.
CAMERON KASKY:: Tomorrow we are announce the March For Our Lives.
4 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
"Face the Nation" [Feb. 18]: Teenagers at a Florida school map out a new national movement to curb gun violence.
Emma González ["Face the Nation"]: What we have set up right now, we have a website, March For Our Lives. We're going to do a march in March on Washington where we get students all over the country are going to be joining us ... the adults let us down.
ANDREW POLLACK | MEADOW POLLACK'S FATHER: Everyone knows how unbelievable she was. We loved her so much And for this to happen, man, for this — it's just really — it's really messed up man 'cause ... Nobody should go through this burying a kid ... You put your kid in a school and you think, you know, "How could this happen in a school like that?"
It's great that the kids are out there together and they have a voice. I feel their pain ... But if they're gonna concentrate on gun control I think they're wasting their time. ... I would tell them to focus their energy on something that's achievable that we could accomplish right now.
... What we need right now in this country is school safety. ... Perimeter around a school just like there is at a courthouse. The new norm's gonna be at a school in the future — it's gonna be like going to the airport. That's what society has brought us to and that's the way it has to be.
"CBS Evening News": CBS News learned the suspect Nikolas Cruz purchased at least seven rifles over the last year.
Samantha Fuentes | Survivor: I looked up and I saw him standing at the window. And he lacked any expression at all actually, which is probably the most gruesome factor of it all.
Samantha Fuentes was in Ivy Schamis' classroom.
Samantha Fuentes: This entrance wound was from shrapnel. And it was lodged into my cheek and behind my eyeball. And then this right here which is weird I can still feel the metal. Here, here, and then all along my cheek is shrapnel. And then I have multiple sites in my legs.
4 NIGHTS AFTER THE SHOOTING
CAMERON'S KASKY'S HOUSE
David Hogg [sitting at counter in Cameron's living room]: This is insane. How many – it feels like it's been weeks. It does. And how many days has it been? Five, four?
Girl: Not even, right?
CAMERON KASKY: This all started at my house. We've just been there…The original goals of Never Again were to make one center where we could all be together and grieve and demand change in one spot.
DELANEY TARR: We were trying to focus on what would get the most people behind us … who can we send out to which interviews.
CAMERON KASKY: Everybody's on computers, everybody's making calls. Everybody's trying to remember to eat.
5 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
WASHINGTON, D.C.
"CBS This Morning" | Feb. 19: Dozens of high school students called for action on gun control, even posing as corpses outside the White House.
5 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
CAMERON'S HOUSE | #NEVERAGAIN HEADQUARTERS
Emma González [reacting to news report]: Oh my God. They are lying down right now.
Student: Who?
Another student: They are lying down right now.
Emma González: I f------ love them. Can I retweet that?
Emma González [Sitting on floor]: I need to call the Washington Post because I was supposed to do this last night –slash-yesterday and I am so sorry.
Emma González: [Laying on floor, talking on phone]: Hi this is Emma González. Hi – I'm so sorry that I did not call sooner … Oh my gosh. I'm halfway through today, but like at least today is a lot less busy than yesterday…
CBS This Morning [Feb. 19]: Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says here at the White House officials will take the next two weeks to meet with students, educators, law enforcement and governors to discuss what can be done.
U.S. CONGRESSMAN TED DEUTCH (D-FL) VISITS CAMERON'S HOME
Cameron Kasky to Rep. Ted Deutch: We've got two tables outside. We've got this mama right here and we've got outside.
Rep. Ted Deutch: Whatever's comfortable for you guys.
[Sitting around dining room table]
Cameron Kasky: This is Emma. You know Emma.
Cameron Kasky: People from every station are asking us, "are you going to be there to talk to Donald Trump?" Well first of all, we haven't been invited.
Rep. Ted Deutch: Has the White House reached out?
Students: No.
Ryan Deitsch: Do you know any White House contacts? I've been calling every number I can find and all of them don't answer.
Rep. Ted Deutch: If he hasn't spoken to you, then I don't know who he has spoken to.
David Hogg: What even do we ask him?
Rep. Ted Deutch: Do you want to call him now?
Student: Yes, let's do that.
Cameron Kasky: Let's all not talk. Let's not say a single word.
Student: Shhh. We are calling the White House.
[Rep. Deutch makes phone call - answering machine: "Your call has been forwarded…" students laugh]
Rep. Ted Deutch [leaving a message]: If you could just give me a call back I would appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Rep. Ted Deutch [to students]: Is there anyone you'd like me to reach out for you?
CAMERON KASKY: It's been so much this entire week. So much has been going on, we've had so much to do. I've had to stare mothers and fathers who have lost their children in the eye. But it's the fact that we are getting something done here that makes everything OK. Not really, but it makes everything seem OK. Sometimes when I'm falling asleep, I start to remember. And it starts to hit me 17 times.
IVY SCHAMIS: Right away they started with the vigils. And we had that whole next week was full of vigils and funerals and wakes. And way more than anyone should go to in a lifetime we did in a week.
5 NIGHTS AFTER THE SHOOTING
STUDENTS PREPARE FOR A TRIP TO THE FLORIDA STATEHOUSE
DELANEY TARR: I think we all were – had reached a consensus that …we can't just get upset about it. …We need to talk to our legislators.
Jaclyn Corin |Student [addressing group night before Tallahassee trip]" I personally am getting a paper describing each and every senator, each and every time of the meeting.
DELANEY TARR: Jackie, bless her heart, she took the charge in organizing that Tallahassee trip. ..She got 100 kids, buses, food, sleeping space.
Jaclyn Corin [speaking to group night before Tallahassee trip]: I want you guys to go to sleep before midnight. I know you're going to be surrounded by 100 teenagers, but, like, you really need to go to sleep.
DELANEY TARR: Just be there, be in their faces and they can't ignore you.
6 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
DELANEY TARR: It was just so overwhelming. It's still overwhelming, but it feels a little more organized now.
Jaclyn Corin: OK, we're gonna be announcing who's on what bus!
DELANEY TARR: It's not trying to destroy the second amendment; it's not trying to take away everyone's guns. …We want an assault weapons ban. We want universal background checks. We want reasonable gun reform. That is all that we are asking for here. And it shouldn't be as hard as it is.
HEADING TO THE FLORIDA STATEHOUSE
"CBS This Morning" co-host John Dickerson [Feb. 20]: Students who witnessed the deadly school shooting are set to confront Florida legislators today, who just voted to put off any action on guns.
"CBS This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell: The teenagers arrived after Florida's House of Representatives rejected a motion to debate a bill banning assault weapons.
Sheryl Acquarola | Student [at Tallahassee legislature]: The next death of someone with an assault rifle here in Florida is going to be on them.
7 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Florida State Rep. Sean Shaw | D-District 61 [welcoming students]: How's it going guys. Thank you guys for coming up here.
Female adult: Alright, come on in, guys.
Student 1: Eight forty-five.
Student 2: Eight forty-five! We are already in school for over an hour.
[Students walking through legislative hallway]
Ryan Deitsch: We've - we've been to five rooms so far, and they've just moved us room to room and -
Female Student: We have so much to say, and we - what we need to do is talk about it to lawmakers and they're not even showing up to our meetings.
Delaney Tarr: Hah. We knew this was gonna be hard, but we weren't expecting this. But like - hopefully, hopefully we'll get to actually meet with someone that - that's --
Chris Grady | Student: Maybe.
Delaney Tarr: It feels a lot like we're being dismissed because we are teenagers.
DELANEY TARR: That was the first thing that we were exposed to. And - and afterwards, many of them did apologize, or they did meet with us.
STUDENTS MEET WITH REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR KATHLEEN PASSIDOMO -- ACCORDING TO HER WEBSITE "A LIFETIME MEMBER OF THE NRA"
Jaclyn Corin | Student: Do you, like, agree with civilians owning an assault rifle with such high capacity magazines? Do you support that?
Florida Sen. Kathleen Passidomo | R-28th District: Um, where when you say high capacity magazines, that's the number of --
Jaclyn Corin: Bullets.
Sen. Kathleen Passidomo: You know, I'm not the right person to talk to about that because I'm in a learning, uh, curve on - on weapons and -- and the like.
CLOSED DOOR MEETING WITH REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR ANITERE FLORES -- THE SHOOTING TOOK PLACE NOT FAR FROM HER DISTRICT
Florida State Sen. Anitere Flores | R-District 39 [in tears]: Don't - don't give up hope, guys. Don't, please.
Delaney Tarr: She was - she was so sympathetic to us and she really understood us I think. It went well, I mean, honestly like that was probably the most productive session we've had yet because it's not necessarily the - the, the party that's been aligning with our views more, and it's - it - that - that honestly gave me a lot of hope.
[CBS News report]: More than a thousand protesters converged outside the Capitol, raising the volume on their demands.
Delaney Tarr: [Addressing reporters at Tallahassee press conference]: Our tendency to be a bit too aggressive, our tendency to lash out, things that you would expect from a normal teenager - these are our strengths. We have nothing to lose. The only thing we have to gain at this point is our safety.
THE SAME DAY
WHITE HOUSE LISTENING SESSION WITH VICTIMS OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE
ANDREW POLLACK: Well, I really didn't plan on going there with a message. The president called and he asked if I would come down and talk with him, and he just wanted to hear our side of the story of what happened.
ANDREW POLLACK: It's tough for any person, even the president, to talk to someone that - kid was just murdered in the school. What do you say to a dead kid's father? What – what are you gonna say to me?
President Donald Trump: I want to listen and then after I listen we're gonna get things done.
Andrew Pollack [at listening session]: My daughter has no voice. She was murdered last week and she was taken from us. Shot nine times. …We as a country failed our children. This shouldn't happen. We go to the airport I can't get on a plane with a – a bottled water. But we leave it – some animal to walk into a school and shoot our children. …Should've been one school shooting, and we should've fixed it. And I'm pissed. Cause my daughter I'm not gonna see again. …It's not about gun laws right now. That's – that's another fight, another battle. Let's fix the schools, and then you guys can battle it out, whatever you want. But we need our children safe.
FLORIDA STATEHOUSE
Students chanting: We're students, united, we'll never be divided.
Florida State Rep. Al Jacquet | [D-District 88 [to students]: Anything that's ever done in government, starts with the people. But I'll tell you what. I think we have forgotten why we're serving, and you need to remind us.
Students chanting: Vote them out. Vote them out. Vote them out.
Florida State Rep. Evan Jenne | D-District 99: I have news for you - every time those two doors open –
Male voice: They hear you.
Rep. Evan Jenne: Every single one of them hears you.
Students chanting: This is what democracy looks like. Show them what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like.
Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith exits House of Representatives chamber, chants with kids
Students chanting: Show them what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like.
President Trump [at listening session]: We're fighting hard for you and we will not stop.
Margaret Brennan [CBS News report]: As for possible solutions, President Trump focused on strengthening background checks, increasing mental health services, and even arming school staff.
President Trump [at listening session]: If you had a teacher with, who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly.
Male Student [In the hallway in Tallahassee]: Nineteen years since Columbine. Nothing has changed.
Students chanting: Just five minutes. Just five minutes.
Delaney Tarr [addressing reporters]: We've been to many rooms, we've spoken to only a few legislators and try as they might, the most we've gotten out of them is "we'll keep you in our thoughts, you are so strong, you are so powerful." We've heard enough of that.
DELANEY TARR: It's a little, a little uh, daunting, but we are perfectly willing to take on the task.
KYLE KASHUV | STUDENT: I was practically the lone Republican the entire – the entire trip. That's when I realized that the second amendment was really under attack, and this was becoming an anti-gun debate. The first thing I did was I tried explaining to my like, to my close group of friends why they were wrong … And like why they had to like look at all the viewpoints and understand that what they were trying to accomplish, which was – they really – their main thing that they all like, agreed on was we have to ban assault rifles and I tried explaining to them how that was not gonna happen and why that should not happen. I was like OK, something has to be done or at least – I think the biggest thing that pushed me was that there was no conservative point of view being represented.
Emma González [at rally]: Since he was in middle school, it was no surprise to anyone who knew him to hear that he was the shooter!
6 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
John Dickerson ["CBS This Morning," Feb. 19] …the accused gunman Nikolas Cruz was in court yesterday.
CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez: …he stared at the ground and spoke only briefly to his lawyer. …Also yesterday Florida governor Rick Scott called on the FBI to release details surrounding it's failure to take action after receiving a tip last month about Cruz …That tip described his alleged erratic behavior, desire to kill people, and potential to conduct a school shooting…
Norah O'Donnell ["CBS This Morning"]: And police records show deputies went to his home more than three dozen times.
THE FBI WAS ALSO WARNED IN SEPTEMBER ABOUT A COMMENT POSTED ON YOUTUBE BY A NIKOLAS CRUZ: "IM GOING TO BE A PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL SHOOTER"
THE FBI SAYS IT COULD NOT IDENTIFY WHO MADE THAT COMMENT. THE AGENCY SAYS IT WILL BEEF UP THE WAY LEADS ARE HANDLED.
7 NIGHTS AFTER THE SHOOTING
David Hogg: We're here at the BB&T Center and now I'm trying to get inside without a ticket.
Person on walkie talkie: I need his name and the contact.
Woman at security: My contact from CNN is just checking to see. We don't have a name.
Woman at security: David Hall?
David Hogg: David Hogg.
Woman at security: (recognizing Hogg): Ah! David Hogg is here … you're more than welcome to come in.
Jake Tapper [moderating a CNN Town Hall]: Good evening and welcome to Broward County, Florida. I'm Jake Tapper. You're about to witness an historic exchange between survivors of a horrific school shooting and their elected leaders.
Jake Tapper: I want to bring in Cameron Kasky. He's a junior and he has a question for Senator Rubio. Cameron?
[crowd cheers]
Cameron Kasky: Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future? … In the name of 17 people, you cannot ask the NRA to keep their money out of your campaign?
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio [R-Florida]: I think in the name of 17 people, I can pledge to you that I will support any law that will prevent a killer like this –
Cameron Kasky: No, but I'm talking NRA money.
Sen. Marco Rubio: No. …I have told you that I support lifting the age from 18 to 21 of buying a rifle. My understanding, as before I walked out here, is that that organization is not in favor of that. But I think That's the right thing to do.
Sen. Marco Rubio: I don't know what their position is on teachers being armed, but I don't think they should because that's what I think the right thing to do is.
DELANEY TARR: The CNN Town Hall thrust us into a national spotlight. It gave us that national platform.
EMMA GONZÁLEZ: I do feel powerful … I've always been so short, but now I'm so tall in the media presence… It's feels a little strange. I'm not gonna lie, It feels a little weird … But also I just hope that the people aren't getting focused on more than the message is … People will focus too much on the messengers than the message itself because the message is really important.
Emma González [at rally]: To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA shame on you!
[Crowd cheers]
CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz [to students]: Are you prepared to take on the NRA, what's been called the most powerful lobby in the world?
Cameron Kasky: Well I have been getting gun threats from people on social media. I mean, I'm not afraid of them.
CAMERON KASKY: I'm in a house right now where my father currently has several guns. He's a police officer. And I feel safe because of them. I'm not trying to rip every Glock out of every American's hand. I'm trying to make sure that somebody like Nikolas Cruz isn't allowed by the GOP, and the NRA funding them, to get another AR-15 or any weapon of the sort and mow us down with it again.
CBS New correspondent Adriana Diaz: Do you think there should be a ban on assault rifles?
Samantha Fuentes: Yes, because they don't belong on the streets, you don't need an assault rifle to go hunting, you don't need an assault rifle to defend yourself. That's a military-grade weapon that isn't something that someone should just be carrying around.
Samantha Fuentes: I just think that we need to tighten our laws and that's all. I don't think we should get rid of it all. I'm an avid believer of the second amendment.
7 NIGHTS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Jimmy Kimmel [on "Jimmy Kimmel Live"]: It's great to see young Americans acting with conviction [applause] but unfortunately there are some who are attacking them who call them fake news, who call them fake students, who call them crisis actors. The actors who orchestrate tragic events in order to advance some kind of liberal agenda…
Stephen Colbert [on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" referencing crisis actor meme of Emma & David]: That's right … we're all being taken in by the dazzling theatrical performances of high school actors.
Stephen Colbert [on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert"]: Here's Parkland student Cameron Kasky on the question of whether he's a paid crisis actor:
Cameron Kasky [to CNN's Wolff Blitzer]: If you had seen me in our school's production of "Fiddler on the Roof," you would know that nobody would pay me to act — for anything.
8 NIGHTS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Friend of Meadow: This is beautiful, just like Meadow. She is beautiful. And…
Friend of Meadow 2: And we're lighting these off in remembrance of all those lost.
Friend of Meadow: I actually grew up with Meadow, she was my best friend when I was little. Here's a picture of us actually.
Andrew Pollack: Her presence is keeping me strong, to fight this cause, to keep the schools – we just gotta make em safe. That's all I want.
Friend of Meadow [forming the letter M with her hands]: It's an M. It's an M for Meadow..
9 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Ellen DeGeneres [on "Ellen"]: OK, so this march on Washington is happening.
Emma González: March 24.
Ellen DeGeneres: March 24th.
Cameron Kasky: March 24 … It's amazing the universal support we've gotten.
DELANEY TARR: We've had so much support from celebrities… George Clooney, Oprah, Gucci, I believe Chrissie Teigen and John Legend donated … the creator of Twitter just donated $500K yesterday.
MONEY IS POURING IN FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND GUN REFORM GROUPS FOR THE MARCH.
A POWERFUL PR FIRM NOW HANDLES MEDIA REQUESTS.
LEADERS OF THE "WOMEN'S MARCH" ARE HELPING WITH THE MASSIVE LOGISTICS
Cameron Kasky [On 60 Minutes]: I can't get a hotel room on my own. I'm 17 years old, of course we have people helping us. I can't get city permits for 10 blocks of – down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.
Sharyn Alfonsi | 60 Minutes correspondent: How do you make sure people aren't using you for their specific agenda?
Cameron Kasky [On 60 Minutes]: Well, we don't let them. …we all remember everybody has an agenda. …Politicians have asked us to endorse them. Nope. You can support us all you want, but if you think you can get your hands on our movement? It's just not gonna happen.
12 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
"CBS Evening News" anchor Jeff Glor [Feb. 26]: The national debate over how to protect school kids played out today at the White House as the president met with state governors:
President Trump [at the White House]: I really believe I'd run in there even if I didn't have a weapon. And I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too.
14 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Jeff Glor ["CBS Evening News"] Students returned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School today.
"CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King: They're accompanied by more than 200 police officers, about 150 grief counselors and 40 therapy dogs.
- "Beginning of change": Florida shooting survivors return to school
- Parkland students greeted by counselors, therapy dogs on first day back since shooting
Reporter: Do you feel like you're safe coming back?
Female Student: Yeah, there's a lot of law enforcement here so…
DELANEY TARR: I was very determined to go back even though I knew that it was going to be hard. To see my teachers, to see my peers.
IVY SCHAMIS | TEACHER: The class that I'm teaching is history of the Holocaust. Well, when I walked back into the classroom, I was happy to see my students and that made me feel better. And I'm grieving for all of the families who lost their loved ones and I know that the parents— aren't going to see their children anymore and they're not going to get calls from college and that's what's really breaking my heart. Like all those wonderful things that those students would be doing, they won't see that.
Andrew Pollack [to officer outside the school]: When someone murders your kid –
Police Officer: It's unbelievable what you guys are going through -- stay strong.
Andrew Pollack [to CBS News' Adriana Diaz outside school]: I like going there to tell you the truth, because I got to see kids going back to school. Kids should go and learn and be in school and just worry about science, English, history. They shouldn't have to be doing drills about shooters.
Jeff Glor ["CBS Evening News"]: Two big retailers are making changes following the shootings at Stoneman Douglas. Dick's Sporting Goods stores pulled all assault style weapons and high-capacity magazine ammo from its shelves today.
DELANEY TARR: I mean, we're not trying to take credit for it necessarily, but we know that at least we played some role in it. That we're doing something here. We're creating some sort of change.
President Trump [at the White House]: I'm not into popularity, I'm into getting something done that's good.
Reporter: President Trump scrambled the partisan divide on guns today, siding with Democrats on dramatically expanding background checks and raising the purchasing age for semi-automatic weapons.
President Trump: It doesn't make sense that I have to wait until I'm 21 to get a handgun but I can get this weapon at 18. I don't know.
15 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Anderson Cooper [on CNN's AC360]: Dana Loesch, the spokesperson for the National Rifle Association. Does the NRA feel betrayed by the President?
Dana Loesch | NRA Spokesperson: Well, there's a lot of stuff discussed during this meeting. And I don't think any of it really made for good policy to keep our kids safe and with regards to increasing age restrictions, purchasing long guns, this is something that the NRA opposes because it—
Anderson Cooper: That's a no-go?
Dana Loesch: I won't – I -- it's a no-go. Yeah, there's no point in punishing millions of young adults for something that they didn't do.
16 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Gayle King ["CBS This Morning," Feb. 28]: The NRA suggested overnight that President Trump may now be walking back his comments about stricter gun laws.
CBS News chief White House correspondent: Major Garrett: Following an Oval Office meeting, NRA executive lobbyist Chris Cox tweeted that Mr. Trump and vice president Pence, quote "support strong due process and don't want gun control." An hour later Mr. Trump tweeted that "the meeting went great."
17 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
LAKELAND, FLORIDA
Gun owner [at gun show}: Look, if somebody's going to shoot at me, I want to shoot back. I don't want to stand there and die. It's really quite simple. …They're not old enough to vote … but they're trying to tell me what my constitutional rights out to be. I just don't accept that. They need to grow up and find out what's happening out there in the real world.
Gun owner 2 [at gun show): An assault weapons ban is never going to prevent criminals from obtaining firearms.
18 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
#NeverAgain HEADQUARTERS
David Hogg: We're moving into an office space. This is definitely not going to be our last. We're probably going to need a bigger one than this in a couple of months, if not weeks.
Female student: Somebody move the table with me just this way.
Emma González : It's like moving into college but like, early, like…
Male student: It seems like we just take it day by day?
Delaney Tarr: We literally are.
Male student: Yeah.
Male student: I like this map.
Male student 2: Delaney bought this.
Female student: Well, there's marches all over the world, we should have gotten a world map.
Delaney Tarr: I don't know if we expected it to get this big, but like, I'm happy that it's this big.
"FACE THE NATION" | WASHINGTON D.C.
Andrew Pollack [waiting to go on set, watching a video of his daughter to the music "You are my Sunshine": Every morning, when I need to be empowered … I put a video on of my girl, my daughter and I look at that video, and it empowers me and I get angry. And I-- I'm like a lion now since she's been shot, murdered, so when I'm feeling a little tired or maybe I'm drained, I put that video on and I got the energy of a lion.
"Face The Nation" floor manager: Only when she introduces you, look at camera two—
Andrew Pollack: I got you.
"Face The Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan [March 4]: This past week, Margery Stoneman Douglas High School students returned to class.
Margaret Brennan: We are so sorry for the loss of your daughter, sir, and I know that you've become active. You've been at the White House a number of times including this week.
Andrew Pollack: They can focus on any gun laws they want, I don't -- but first let's come together. We could march right through this country. Who's gonna stop us? Who doesn't want our kids safe? Stay focused. …Let's make these schools safe.
21 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
Reporter: Florida legislators are scrambling to pass new legislation for the first time in more than a decade.
Andrew Pollack [Facebook video]: So now, I'm going back to the capital today to look these guys in the eye cause they're gonna vote and I'm gonna know – I'm gonna get it out there -- who voted against keeping our kids safe. …And I know there's people on the page thinkin', oh, I'm not, uh, for the second amendment, and I'm second amendment guy.
ANDREW POLLACK: I went to Tallahassee because I wanted to make sure that this bill got done. And the way I grew up is if you want somethin' done right, you do it yourself.
Speaker: This is the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.
Jeff Glor [on "CBS Evening News"]: The measures include a three day waiting period for handgun purchases, and a ban on sales to anyone under 21. Some teachers will also be allowed to carry guns.
THIS BILL DOES NOT INCLUDE A BAN ON THE SALE OF ASSAULT WEAPONS
Rep. Smith: I reject this bill, members, because it's a false choice – rushed through. We don't have to do it this way.
Andrew Pollack: If it didn't pass in Florida what does that show everybody in the whole world, that we could have 17 murders and we can't even get a safety bill passed.
Rep. Jacobs: We are a divided group of people trying to come together on some legislation that no state so far in this country following a tragedy has been able to tackle.
Speaker: The clerk will unlock the machine and the members will proceed to vote. Have all members voted? The clerk will lock the machine and announce the vote.
Clerk: Sixty-seven "YEAS", fifty "NAYS", Mr. Speaker.
Speaker: So the bill passes.
ANDREW POLLACK: I wanted to have something accomplished that I could take to the other states and show the other governors look this is what we did in Florida – this is what you need to do now.
Andrew Pollack [at press conference]: On behalf of all the families who lost a loved one on February 14th I want to thank the governor for his tremendous support and we stand united in asking him to sign this historic bill into law.
23 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
Florida Gov. Rick Scott [after signing bill into law]: To the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, you made your voices heard…
EMMA GONZÁLEZ: We got a bill signed by Rick Scott and that would never have happened if it hadn't been for us.
DELANEY TARR: We're not seeing everything that we want but I'm confident that there will be gun control because I'm not going to stop working until there is.
Within hours after the bill became law in Florida, the NRA filed a federal lawsuit claiming it violated the Constitution.
KYLE KASHUV: Gun control isn't going to solve this problem. I'm not an NRA supporter, I'm not against it. But what the NRA does is, it protects the second amendment.
Fox News anchor: You know you had a very busy day yesterday, you were in Washington D.C. You got to meet with lots of senators, Congressmen, and the President himself and the First Lady.
Kyle Kashuv: Yes, ma'am. It was quite amazing. I talked to Melania Trump, Mrs. Trump for so long. She was so maternal and loving and caring and then she brought me over to the Oval Office and uh, I waited for Mr. Trump and he said hello, we shook hands and we talked for awhile.
KYLE KASHUV: I sat down with Chuck Schumer, with Chris Murphy, with Nancy Pelosi, with so many of these senators. I tried listening to all point of views. And I came to my own personal conclusion that banning assault rifles will not solve the problem.
IN 2017, U.S. CONGRESSMAN STEVE SCALISE WAS WOUNDED BY A GUNMAN
Steve Scalise [meeting with Kyle Kashuv]: People with guns who are well trained and know what they're doing are able to take down a guy who has ill intentions.
KYLE KASHUV: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
Steve Scalise [meeting with Kyle Kashuv]: Thank you and good luck to you and enjoy your high school years.
KYLE KASHUV: Like, marching is all fair and good but at the end of the day the march is going to be over and what's going to be accomplished?
28 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
NATIONAL SCHOOL WALKOUT
Jeff Glor ["CBS Evening News," March 14]: Hundreds of thousands of high school students left schools for at least 17 minutes, one minute for each of the people killed in Parkland one month ago today.
Students chant: We want change! We want change!
Capitol Hill protest leader Brenda Levitan: If you can speak, speak, if you can march, march, and when you can vote, vote.
THE SAME DAY
ARRAIGNMENT OF NIKOLAS JACOB CRUZ
Jeff Glor ["CBS Evening News," March 14]: His lawyers repeated their offer. Nikolas Cruz will plead guilty if his life is spared. Prosecutors rejected it. They're going for the death penalty.
Anthony Borges, shot five times while shielding classmates, is still recovering
Beth González | Emma's mother [on 60 Minutes, March 12]: We almost lost these kids, we're all very aware that we're the lucky ones. I kinda wanna, you know, lock her in her room.
Beth González [on 60 Minutes]: I'm terrified … It's like she's built herself a pair of wings out of balsa wood and duct tape and jumped off a building, and we're just like running along beneath her with a net … which she doesn't want or think she needs -- you know?
Emma González [on 60 Minutes] [ Emma wipes her eyes, takes deep breath]: Never gonna be the same person ever again.
On the eve of the march, the Justice Department proposed new rules to ban bump stocks which allow weapons to fire like machine guns. The rule change was ordered by President Trump.
39 DAYS AFTER THE SHOOTING
"MARCH FOR OUR LIVES"
Andrew Pollack: They're marching, so I give them all credit, you know. The main thing is that that I love her and, and I'm not going to quit.
Emma González: We started on Cameron's floor and we made it to Washington to march. We're finally getting heard. This is just the beginning. We're going to keep working every day from now on until we see change that we need."
Ivy Schamis: Thank you for all your support. They're every day kids with no – it's not like they're prepared for this. They've just taken it with the bull by the horns and ran with it.
David Hogg: We're going to change the world.
Ivy Schamis: It's unbelievable what they're doing.
CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues [ "CBS This Morning Saturday," March 24]: There are so-called sibling marches in hundreds of cities across the country, major cities like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.
Crowd chanting Save our kids! Save our kids!
Crowd chanting: We will vote!
Jaclyn Corin: Actually, we have a special guest for you guys so I'm gonna come bring her up.
Yolanda King: My name is Yolanda Renee King, granddaughter of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that enough is enough."
Samantha Fuentes: "Lawmakers and politicians will scream guns are not the issue. But can't look me in the eye. (VOMITS) I just threw up on international television and it feels great!"
Naomi Wadler: Hi. My name is Naomi and I'm 11 years old. I'm here today to acknowledge and represent the African American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper."
Cameron Kasky: To the leaders, skeptics, and cynics, who told us to sit down and say – stay silent, wait your turn, welcome to the revolution.
[MUSIC: Lin-Manuel Miranda & Ben Platt: Even with the darkness crashing through, when you need a friend to carry you, when you're broken on the ground, you will be found.]
Delaney Tarr: Today and every day, we will continue to fight for those things that are right. We will continue to fight for common sense. We will continue to fight for our lives.
[MUSIC: Miranda & Platt: When our children tell their stories, you will be found. Telling stories of tonight…]
David Hogg: I say we will not stop until every man, every woman, every child, and every American can live without fear of gun violence and to that I say, no more.
Emma González: Six minutes and about 20 seconds. In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us, 15 were injured, and everyone, absolutely everyone in the Douglas community was forever altered… Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15 and my friend Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice. Aaron Feis would never call Kiera "Miss Sunshine." Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan. Scott Beigel would never joke around with Cameron at camp. Helena Ramsey would never hang out after school with Max. Gina Montalto would never wave to her friend Liam at lunch. Joaquin Oliver would never play basketball with Sam or Dylan. Alaina Petty would never, Cara Loughran would never, Chris Hixon would never, Luke Hoyer would never, Martin Duque Anguiano would never, Peter Wang would never, Alyssa Alhadeff would never, Jamie Guttenberg would never, Meadow Pollack would never.
Emma González: Since the time that I came out here, it has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest. Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job.
