Earlier this week, the entire country was shocked as a lone gunman opened fire on a South Florida high school, killing 17 people and injuring 15 others. The suspected shooter is 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who was arrested and charged shortly after the attack on Wednesday, and the shooting (which is already the 18th of its kind in 2018) has brought the issue of gun control in America back into sharp focus. In the wake of the attack, Donald Trump has waded into the issue, giving his insights on the death and tragedy that day, but the president is once again under fire for his comments following the attack, implying in a tweet that mental health issues were to blame for a teenager opening fire on a high school. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/964110212885106689]] Not only are Trump's comments slightly wide of the mark (Cruz was actually reported to authorities several times - including the FBI - before the fateful shooting, to no avail), but they've also drawn criticism from Cruz's former classmates. One of them has spoken out passionately against the president and his outspoken views. This is Emma Gonzalez, who took the podium at a rally in Fort Lauderdale Federal Courthouse, where more than 1,000 community members gathered to discuss the importance of gun control. “There’s one tweet that I would like to call attention to,” Gonzalez said, as she refuted the idea that this all could've been prevented by reporting “bad and erratic behavior” to authorities. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/JoshuaChavers/status/964935557318152192]] “We did. Time and time again. Since [the accused shooter Nikolas Cruz] was in middle school,” said Gonzalez, before taking aim at certain corners of society who somehow saw it fit to blame the victims of the school shooting for failing to integrate him into their groups. “Those talking about how we should have not ostracized him, you didn’t know this kid! OK? We did. We know that they are claiming that there are mental health issues, and I am not a psychologist, but we need to pay attention to the fact that this is not just a mental health issue.” Next, Gonzalez took aim at the lack of progress concerning gun control in the United States, noting that “he wouldn’t have harmed that many students with a knife”. She called out Donald Trump for his comments, and questioned the authenticity of his words in light of his views with the National Rifle Association. “If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy, and how it should never have happened, and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association." Conservative politicians who have taken funding from the NRA in the past have again come under fire following Wednesday's tragedy, while Trump himself received as much as $30.3 million from the association during his successful 2016 Presidential campaign. In her speech, Gonzalez reflected the thoughts of many Americans around the world when she called for the end to the hypocrisy when it came to gun control in the United States. "To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA, shame on you! Shame on you! Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this: We call BS!” Gun control is, and will continue to be, a contentious issue in the United States, but as the incidents grow more frequent, the body counts start to rise and nothing continues to be done, there will surely be more tragic speeches in the vein of Emma Gonzalez's here, and perhaps then we will start to see a change.

Last week, a 19-year-old man murdered 17 people and wounded a further 14 at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The school shooting was the worst in the US since Sandy Hook, and has reignited gun control debates across the country. Amongst those discussing the second amendment, students who were actually present at the shooting have been some of the most vocal. Many of them have taken to Twitter to directly confront President Trump about the issue, with one pupil - Sarah - saying: "Multiple of my fellow classmates are dead. Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers won’t fix this. But Gun control will prevent it from happening again." Others, however, had the opportunity to stand up in front of a crowd and deliver their thoughts on the matter. Emma Gonzales, a senior at the Parkland school, stepped up during a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale and addressed thousands of people when she said: "Every single person up here today, all these people should be home grieving. "But instead, we are up here standing together because if all our government and President can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it's time for victims to be the change that we need to see." She continued: "If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and ... how nothing is going to be done about it, I'm going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association. "It doesn't matter because I already know. Thirty million dollars." The 18-year-old was, of course, referring to donations that Trump received from the NRA during his presidential campaign. "To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA - shame on you!" she said. Despite ongoing pleas from victims of shootings and gun control advocates, many in the USA are still insistent that this is a "mental health" or "behavior" problem rather than a gun issue. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/964110212885106689]] However, many people seem to be neglecting the fact that the USA is the single worst developed nation on Earth for mass shootings. In comparison to the UK, for example, 64 per cent of all of America's homicides came as a result of gun violence in 2016, whereas its neighbors across the pond had a rate of just 4.5 per cent. Both nations have proportionate numbers of people with "mental health" problems - but only one of them has strict gun control laws. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/jonsnowC4/status/965214633224175616]] The ease with which people are able to buy guns in the USA is an undeniable problem, but - for some reason - legislators still care more about the second amendment than they do the lives of innocent people. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/BrendonWoodsPD/status/965466727076134913]] "This isn’t just a mental health issue. He wouldn’t have hurt that many students with a knife," Gonzales said to the crowd. "We are going to be the last mass shooting," she said. "We are going to change the law. That's going to be Marjory Stoneman Douglas in that textbook, and it's all going to be due to the tireless efforts of the school board, the faculty members, the family members and most importantly the students." Gonzales certainly made an impact on the people at the rally - hopefully, her words will influence those in government, too.

Following the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida last week, where 17 people were killed and 15 injured, the debate around gun control has come into the forefront once more. The overwhelming response is that something needs to be done by the American government to prevent massacres like this from happening again, especially when the United States' statistics for gun violence and mass shootings are notoriously bad.

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The US makes up under 5% of the world's population, and yet it holds 31% of global mass shooters. Between 1966 and 2012 there were 90 mass shootings in America, with the country with the nearest figure coming in at 18. When you realize that Americans own 48% of the civilian-owned guns worldwide, it seems that availability is a factor in these shootings.

In light of the massacre on February 14, the survivors and families of those killed have come forward to demand new laws to combat these startling facts.

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While he hasn't exactly been held in high regard by the student survivors currently campaigning for tighter gun control laws, Donald Trump met with victims and families of students caught up in the shooting recently. He told them he was grieving for the deaths, while they begged him to take some immediate administrative action.

Andrew Pollack, a Trump supporter who lost his 18-year-old daughter Meadow in the attack, had some powerful words for the president:

"I'm very angry that this happened. Because it keeps happening. 9/11 happened once. And they fix everything. How many schools, how many children have to get shot? It stops here with this administration and me. I'm not going to sleep until it is fixed.

"And Mr. President, we'll fix it. Because I'm going to fix it. I'm not going to rest. And my boys need to live with this. I want to see everyone. You, you look at this. Me, I'm - I'm a man, but to see your children go through this, bury their sister. That's what I keep saying because I want it to sink in, not forget about this. We can't forget about it. All these school shootings, it doesn't make sense. Fix it.

"There should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it. And I'm pissed. Because my daughter, I'm not going to see again. She's not here. She's not here. She's in North Lauderdale King David cemetery, that is where I go to see my kid now. And if we all work together and come up with the right idea, school safety."

However, during this meeting, one photographer caught a snap of a cue card that Trump had been holding throughout the meeting. The card held a list of prompts, including one that read, "I hear you" and "What can we do to make you feel safe?".

For any politician to let cue cards be clearly visible is a PR slipup to begin with, but many criticised Trump for his need to have basic reminders on how to empathize with the victims of this tragedy.

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Trump has said he will have more stringent background checks for those wanting to buy a gun, but also said he was considering the possibility of arming teachers, ideas which fall on either side of the debate.

"We'll be very strong on background checks, very strong emphasis on the mental health of somebody," Trump told the students during Wednesday's televised event at the White House.

"Where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them, they would go for special training and they would be there, and you would no longer have a gun-free zone.

"A gun-free zone, to a maniac, because they are all cowards, a gun-free zone is, 'let's go in and let's attack.'

This is an endorsement of a proposal long put forward by the powerful gun lobbying group the National Rifle Association, who donated over $30 million to Trump's presidential campaign - making him the recipient of the most gun lobby funding of any presidential candidate in history.

The decision, if it will come to pass, has made many wary. This also is a supposed u-turn for Trump, who during the 2016 election claimed that he was not in favor of guns being in classrooms.

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It was also reported recently that Trump asked members about gun control issues at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he spends a substantial amount of time. There are no concealed firearms allowed on the resort, for the record.

A news station has been slammed for a controversial segment where an anchor shot at a Donald Trump doll.Donald Trump arrives on the first day of the Republican National Convention. Credit: Win McNamee/GettyOn June 13, the former president of the United States was left bleeding from his ear after an attempted assassination took place at one of his campaign rallies in Butler, Pennsylvania.Security was forced to storm the stage and shield Trump from potential bullets as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was seen shooting from the roof of a shed before an FBI sniper eventually killed him.One shot grazed Trump’s ear, spraying blood across his face.Donald Trump swamped by security amid shooting. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Corey Comperatore, who was sitting behind Trump, was shot and killed while two other people, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, were left seriously injured.After the attack, it was announced that the 78-year-old was "doing fine" before he took to his social media platform 'Truth Social' to address his followers."I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania," he wrote in a statement afterward. "Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country."He continued: "Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin."Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening," he added before concluding: "God bless America."Trump's first post to Truth Social after the shooting. Credit: Truth SocialWhile the investigation into the killer's motives continues, a resurfaced clip bearing similarities to the weekend's harrowing incident has become a talking point online.A bizarre on-air stunt from the New Zealand television show Breakfast saw hosts on the program take turns aiming a bug-spray device shaped like a gun at a small Donald Trump doll.And let's just say, the clip hasn't aged well on YouTube.Have a look at the reposted clip below:"That’s so unprofessional," commented one user."That is just sick. This is journalism????" another added."Terrible behavior from these immature presenters. It's time to have more tolerance of others' political beliefs," a third chimed in.And one person also suggested whether the act was "premeditated."At the time, the news station received a handful of complaints - three, to be precise - about the "offensive" nature of the segment.Trump is shown covered by U.S. Secret Service agents after an attempted assassination. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/GettyHowever, TV NZ allegedly disputed those claims, arguing it was lighthearted in tone, and after an investigation, BSA found the segment had not breached broadcasting guidelines."We consider it was clear the segment was intended as a joke and was consistent with discussion typically featured on Breakfast," the BSA said at the time, as per News.com.au.Just days after the shooting, Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, showing his loyal devotees that he is still well and truly in the race to reclaim the White House.Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty

During his tenancy as President so far, Donald Trump has taken his fair share of criticisms - or perhaps not enough, depending on how you look at it. From his backtracking on climate change measures to his disregard for young people through the repeal of DACA, Trump has certainly given people a lot to criticise. Over the last eight months, reporters, politicians, and pretty much anybody with a Twitter account has been given a platform to publicly share their opinion on 45 - and now a Miss America contestant has stepped up to offer her thoughts, too. Margana Wood, who is the representative for Texas in this year's Miss America contest, was challenged on her views towards the President during a question and answer segment of the pageant. After selecting a judge at random, Wood was asked this by Jess Cagle: "Last month, a demonstration of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the KKK in Charlottesville turned violent and a counterprotester was killed. The president said there was shared blamed with 'very fine people on both sides.' Were there? Tell me yes or no and explain." To many, this would be a fairly heavy question that would take some consideration before answering. However, the 22-year-old didn't even hesitate before responding: “I think that the white supremacist issue, it was very obvious, that it was a terrorist attack. And I think that President Donald Trump should’ve made a statement earlier addressing the fact, and in making sure all Americans feel safe in this country. That is the number one issue right now.”  Using just 15 seconds of her allotted 20-second time limit, Wood tore into the President with all the poise of a professional orator. What she said was clear, concise, and downright gutsy. In literally just the first five seconds, Miss Texas was able to condemn the events at Charlottesville with more courage and conviction than Trump managed after two whole days of watching the events unfold. Her answer generated loud applause from the audience, and both the judges and Wood's fellow contestants can be seen smiling in agreement with the pageant queen. Twitter was also quick to celebrate Miss Wood for her actions after a clip of her answer was posted to the site: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/MissAmerica/status/907073729359785985]] "SHOOK at Miss Texas answer to Charlottesville riot/White Supremacy," wrote one user. "Extremely proud and happy. Hope she wins". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/LilBubly/status/907073837375913984]] Others relished in the opportunity to further slam Trump for his recent inaction: "Miss Texas--a white woman--showed more integrity in 20 seconds than Trump has known all his life." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/907074814183137280]] Miss Texas has also been known to speak out in other areas where Trump has been noticeably failing - namely LGBTQ matters. Speaking to 'Out Smart', a magazine about queer issues, Wood said: “It’s important for everyone to hear the phrase [you belong] because they do ― everybody belongs”. Unfortunately, Wood did not win the overall contest - that prize went to Miss Dakota, Cara Mund. However, she certainly won the hearts and minds of everybody who agrees that Trump is not doing enough to condemn white supremacy, and really, that's worth so much more.