Both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention will feature speakers connected to the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead — although the speakers have "wildly divergent views," the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.
On Wednesday night, 20-year-old survivor and March For Our Lives activist Emma González will urge stricter gun laws in a 40-second video airing during the Democrat's convention. "People affected by everyday gun violence have to walk by the street corner where their best friend, their brother, their mother, their nephew, where they themselves were shot," González says in the video, her voice breaking with emotion. She adds, "Until one of us or all of us stand up and say, 'I can't do this anymore, I can't sit by and watch the news treat these shootings like acts of God' — gun violence isn't just going to stop until there's a force fighting harder against it, and I'm going to do something to prevent it."
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the massacre, previously spoke for the Democrats on Tuesday night, endorsing nominee Joe Biden while announcing Florida's votes during the roll call. "When my daughter was murdered in Parkland, Joe Biden called to share on our family's grief," he said. "I quickly learned about his decency and his civility, but I also learned about his toughness and how he's beaten the NRA."
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Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter, Meadow, was also killed, will speak next week to endorse President Trump. While the Republican National Convention hasn't offered more details about Pollack's appearance yet, the father is an outspoken critic of Biden and has called Trump "the PEACE president." He's also slammed the pro-gun-control student activists behind March For Our Lives in the past, claiming "they just got famous off the death of these kids. Their agenda was to get famous and spew more of their liberalism ways without looking at the facts."
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