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By Aiden Pink February 21, 2018

The father of Meadow Pollack, one of the victims of the school shooting last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, attended a listening session at the White House with other Americans affected by gun violence and urged President Trump to act to stop future tragedies.

“We’re here because my daughter has no voice — she was murdered last week, shot nine times,” Andrew Pollack said. “How many schools, how many children have to get shot? It stops here, with this administration and me.”

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Pollack said that he did not support new gun regulations, but that the president should support new school safety measures.

“It should have been one school shooting, and we should have fixed it, and I’m pissed,” Pollack said, “because my daughter, I’m not going to see again.”

Sam Zeif, a student who survived the shooting but who lost a close friend, told Trump that he supported restrictions on assault weapons like the AR-15 used at Douglas. “The Second Amendment I believe was for defense… but these are not weapons of defense, these are weapons of war,” he said. “I still can’t fathom that I myself am able to purchase one.”

“We’re going to do something about this horrible situation,” Trump pledged at the beginning of the session, adding that he would be “very strong on background checks” and put “a very strong emphasis on the mental health of somebody.”

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

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