In the aftermath of the Parkland shooting which shook America last month, one student emerged from the tragedy to deliver a rousing and emotional speech regarding gun control in America. 18-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez became an internet sensation in the wake of the shooting after her "We call BS" speech that called for tighter gun control.
In the speech, Gonzalez directly addressed President Donald Trump, saying:
"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.
"You want to know something? It doesn't matter because I already know. Thirty million dollars. And divided by the number of gunshot victims in the United States in the one and one-half months in 2018 alone, that comes out to being $5,800. Is that how much these people are worth to you, Trump?
"If you don't do anything to prevent this from continuing to occur, that number of gunshot victims will go up and the number that they are worth will go down. And we will be worthless to you."
However, while the majority of people praised the young woman for her speech, Leslie Gibson, a Republican candidate wasn't so keen.
Taking to his since-deleted personal Twitter account, the House candidate for Maine's 57th District, branded Gonzalez as a "skin head lesbian" and also called her classmate David Hogg a "bald faced liar".
"There is nothing about this skinhead lesbian that impresses me and there is nothing that she has to say unless you're a frothing at the mouth moonbat," wrote Gibson.
He also claimed that the teenager wasn't a survivor of the attack because she was in a "different part of the school".
Gibson also took issue with an interview Hogg did with CNN in which he said that NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch "owns" congressmen. Taking to his Twitter once more, the politician said: "A bald faced liar. Dana Loesch 'owns' Congressmen? Completely absurd."
Unsurprisingly, there was a major backlash to the comments and Gibson has since apologized. According to him, because of his career in the military, he swore to "uphold and defend the constitutions of the United States".
He went on: "Because of this, I am very passionate about protecting our constitutional rights from those who seek their elimination.
"It was not appropriate to single out the Parkland students, but I stand firm in my defence of our constitutional rights."
In a tweet towards González, he wrote: "I would like to extend to you my most sincere apology for how I addressed you.
"It was wrong and unacceptable. You are doing work that is important to you. I would like to extend my hand in friendship and understanding to you."
It remains to be seen if Gonzalez will accept this, but given what she's dealing with right now, I'm sure she's got bigger fish to fry other than a half-hearted response apology.
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