By Jerry Flores
Government representatives should not claim a person is an actor after experiencing and surviving a shooting.
On Feb. 20, Florida legislator’s aide Benjamin Kelly said David Hogg, a survivor of Florida’s shooting, was an “actor that travels to various crises when they happen.”
Instead of making those claims, Government officials should help survivors through their traumas as much as they can.
How is it possible to think a person is acting on a serious issue like that?
It is unreasonable to think that way because students who experienced this situation are not only emotionally affected, but mentally affected.
Survivors just want to share their experiences on how frightening it is to be in a violent event. They shouldn’t be judged, but helped instead.
The internet has played a big role in this controversy. Users of social media are sharing these comments and making them viral.
An article published on NBCNEWS.com on Feb. 21 reported that more than 111,000 Facebook users shared a post claiming that Parkland students were performers who exploit tragedies.
People who are sharing these posts, are accusing Hogg of being a paid actor because last year in August he appeared in a news report aired by CBS Los Angeles. Hogg was interviewed about a confrontation between a lifeguard and a surfer in Redondo Beach, CA and said he was a high school student in California.
To them, Hogg is just pretending to be a student. To them, he is just traveling to places where tragedies happen, giving interviews about those events.
To them, Hogg is lying and just wants to get paid for giving interviews.
However, is that a strong enough argument to prove that he is a paid actor?
I don’t think so. He and his family could have decided to move to Florida, and unfortunately for him, he was involved in another event. And as a survivor, he gave those interviews so that people could get first-hand information on what happened during the shooting.
The real problem in this situation is that shooting massacres in the United States have increased in the past years, taking with them the lives of innocent people. Yet, no one in congress has passed a new gun law to stop this problem.
Hogg has become the leader of the victims and survivors of the massacre who want a change in this country, who are seeking for a stricter gun laws.
But instead of receiving support from people and the government, the y and other outspoken students are being ignored.
The students are pushing the government to pass a gun reform bill with a “comprehensive background check and a ban on assault rifles,” said Harris Chaffe, a Douglas High School student.
Although the government is analyzing laws like providing mental assistance to people who want to buy a gun, which would be really helpful, they also need to pass a law for gun restriction. That way, only those with adequate gun training and knowledge can acquire it.