The gunman accused of murdering 17 people in a Florida school has made his first court appearance after President Trump vowed to make school safety his administration's top priority in the months ahead.
Nikolas Cruz was a former student at the Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in the town of Parkland.
Police say when he was arrested he admitted shooting students in the school's hallways and on its grounds, and he faces 17 charges of premeditated murder.
A white supremacist group in Florida says the gunman had participated in some of its paramilitary training exercises, but it's unclear whether he had any kind of political motive.
President Trump avoided all reference to gun control in his first public comments on the shooting, despite the fact that the assault rifle used in the attack was legally acquired,
Our US Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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If no child should ever witness what a building filled with 14 year olds witnessed on Wednesday….
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Then no mother should go through the grief that has stricken Lori Alhadeff.
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In a searing interview on CNN she pleaded with the President of the United States to do something about the prevalence of guns in America as she mourned her 15 year-old daughter Alyssa….one of the teenagers allegedly cut down by Nikolas Cruz as he attacked the school with his AR-15 assault rifle.
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Her fury with President Trump was sparked by his response to the events in Florida.
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His televised address to the nation long on prayers and compassion….but utterly devoid of any mention of guns or the need to control access to them.
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We now know that the 19 year old suspect acquired his weapon legally….despite a long record of disciplinary problems at the school…..despite boasting online of his plan to become a "professional school shooter"….and despite the fact that his own fellow students had speculated about his potential to strike at the school.
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That's Florida Governor Rick Scott….one Republican now flirting with the idea of tighter gun controls.
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But others, like Florida Senator Marco Rubio won't countenance any discussion of gun control.
Nor will the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan.
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Political calculations in Washington haven't changed.
The power of the National Rifle Association - the lobby group of the gun industry and gun owners - is just as potent as it was before this week's shooting.
But from Florida, powerful new voices are emerging calling for change.
The voices of students recorded by a high school newspaper reporter as they all sheltered from the attack in one of the school's storage cupboards.
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It would be nice to think the politicians might listen.
It would be encouraging to think there is a possibility of tighter gun control laws to stop an AR-15 assault rifle from ever getting into the hands of a deeply troubled 19 year old now believed to have had some kind of an association with a white supremacist group.
But with acts of mass gun violence becoming almost normalized in US society, and with a President who won't even use the word "gun" when trying to soothe the nation's grief….there is no reason to believe laws are about to change.
No reason to hope there won't be another tragedy soon.
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