CHICAGO: survivors of a recent gun rampage at a Texas school intensified their calls for reforms including tougher gun restrictions Friday, as several of their classmates were laid to rest.Eight children and two adults were killed one week ago when Santa Fe High school student Dimitrios Pagourtzis fired multiple shots with a shotgun and handgun inside his school in rural southeast Texas, also injuring 13.Pakistani exchange student Sabikah Sheikh, 17, was buried on Wednesday in Karachi. In Texas, the first three funerals were held Friday for substitute teacher Cynthia Tisdale, 64, and students Christian Riley Garcia, 15, and Christopher Stone, 17. As Santa Fe worked to heal in the wake of the May 18 tragedy, a group of students there publicly called for gun restrictions, among other reforms, to combat the mass shootings that plague life in the US."The simple reality is that if we do not do something, another town will be ripped apart, like mine," said Santa Fe High school student Megan McGuire.She spoke at a news conference organised by the Houston contingent of "March for Our Lives" -- the grassroots gun control movement started by teenagers after another school shooting in February in Parkland, Florida.The Texas students said they want mental health and school safety reforms, as well as "common sense" gun restrictions, such as legal mandates for secure gun storage inside homes and tougher background checks for gun purchases.Their push contrasted much of the public reaction to the shooting in the conservative state, where gun ownership rights are fiercely protected and Governor Greg Abbott’s reelection campaign organised the raffling off of a shotgun before changing course after the tragedy.
05-27-2018, 11:13 AM
Texas school shooting survivors step up calls for gun reform
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