Survivors of Pulse, Parkland shootings meet at nightclub: ‘We’re all family’

Survivors of the separate shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., and a high school in Parkland, Fla., met Wednesday amid a nationwide debate over gun control.

The survivors met outside the Pulse nightclub, where 49 people were killed in a mass shooting in 2016, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

“We’re all family,” said Neema Bahrami, an employee at the club when the shooting occurred, according to the newspaper. 

{mosads}The students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed last month when a gunman opened fire, reportedly stopped at Pulse on their way back from Florida state’s capital. They had traveled to Tallahassee to demand lawmakers take action on gun control.

According to the Sentinel, survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting wore shirts that said “We Will Not Let Hate Win.” Students from the Parkland high school wore shirts that said “Kids First, Politics Second.”

The Parkland survivors put 49 white roses on the gate around the nightclub to symbolize the 49 people who lost their lives there, according to the newspaper.

“This should have been changed after Sandy Hook,” Annabel Claprood, a Parkland student, told the Sentinel. “Pulse shouldn’t have even happened.”

Another Parkland survivor reportedly told Bahrami: “We’re gonna get it done.”

Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer, who was at the meeting Wednesday, said he supports a ban on assault weapons moving forward.

“If the shooter in the case in Parkland had not been able to purchase that weapon during the course of the last two years, he could not have carried out the act that he did,” Dyer said, according to the newspaper.

The meeting comes just weeks after the shooting at the Florida high school. Students returned to school Wednesday for the first time since the shooting.

Survivors have since become vocal advocates for gun control and have been pressing lawmakers to pass new laws. President Trump has been discussing with lawmakers actions they could take to prevent another shooting.