Parkland Students: The Media’s Still At Our School, People Are Taking Photos ‘Like It’s the Las Vegas Sign’

A group of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School appeared on The Daily Show ahead of the March For Our Lives this weekend.

The discussion began when the students described the “supportive” mood their school has had since the massacre that took place last month but that they’ll never  “overcome” it completely.

Trevor Noah then asked how these students can have a “respectful” discussion on the gun debate. Thomas Holgate acknowledged that some don’t respectfully disagree. However, he believed that most of them “respect each other’s opinions” since they all went through the same tragedy.

The conversation then delved into policy. While Holgate didn’t exactly support the idea of arming teachers, Josh Belenke believed those who are trained should have a gun and was more in favor of armed security on campus, which he thought would also be a “deterrent” for future attacks and pointed to the recent shooting in Maryland as an example. Kai Koerber thought guns “shouldn’t have a place in the school environment” and isn’t conformable with teachers having guns in the classroom, especially as a minority in the South.

When asked what he hoped the march would accomplish, Elijah Abraham told Noah that “a lot more attention” would lead to resolve a “multi-faceted issue” and no matter it’s about guns or mental health that we need to “prevent something so atrocious” from happening again.

“This is a multi-leveled issue that requires different solutions,” Abraham continued. “It’s not ‘We ban all guns.’ It’s not ‘We fund more mental health.’ It’s an all-out multi-sided solution that would be required.”

Before wrapping out the segment, Noah asked the students if they felt there was something that was “missing” that the rest of the country needed to know as human beings. Carly Novell said that they forget that they’re “still in pain.”

“Like we go to school and there’s still media there every day. There are people standing outside taking pictures like it’s the Las Vegas sign,” Novell elaborated. “It’s still new for us. It’s only been a month-and-a-half and we’re still in pain.”

Watch the clip above, via Comedy Central.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!