Editorial: Student voices of Parkland are being heard to reduce gun violence

One year ago Thursday, as images of frightened children fleeing the scene of a gun massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School wracked our nation, the initial reaction was hopelessness.

The 17 fatalities in Parkland, Florida, capped an unprecedented five-month epidemic of mass shootings that included 26 deaths at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and 58 dead and more than 500 seriously injured on the Las Vegas Strip.

But the hopelessness, so quick to descend, did not last. The student survivors of Parkland, whose social media posts and videos went viral as the violence unfolded, reacted with as much fury as sadness to their tragedy. They resolved to rally the nation toward change, and this time the movement outlasted the news cycle.