美国国家公共电台 NPR 'We Should Have Been The Last': Kentucky Shooting Survivors Inspired By Parkland

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This weekend's big rally against gun violence in Washington, sparked by a shooting in Florida, has its counterparts in other parts of the country. One march comes in Marshall County, Ky., which had a school shooting of its own in January. NPR's Camila Domonoske reports.

CAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE 1: On January 23, freshman 2 Seth Adams was finishing up breakfast with his friends at Marshall County High School.

SETH ADAMS: They had doughnuts for us that morning.

DOMONOSKE: Then, he heard gunshots. A student with a handgun was firing in the commons. Adams ran for a nearby room.

SETH: That's all you could do. You just take it like a drill. File into the corner, turn off all the lights, close the door, make sure it's locked.

DOMONOSKE: Junior Keaton Conner was outside when she saw hundreds of students fleeing the building. She ran to the weightlifting room with other students, including the boy police say fired the gun.

KEATON CONNER: He didn't look scared or anything. He just picked up his book bag and, like, slowly walked out of the room.

DOMONOSKE: Two students were dead, 18 were injured. Marshall County's students became survivors 3. That meant mourning, solidarity 4, panic attacks. The community tried to heal as national attention faded away. It was just like every other school shooting. And then...

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This deadly mass shooting happened in Parkland, Fla., about 20 miles...

DOMONOSKE: The school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High killed 17 people. Students there became activists 5 overnight.

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EMMA GONZALEZ: 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.

(CHEERING)

CONNER: After watching these kids at Stoneman speak out and be so strong so soon after, you can't help but ask yourself, if I would've done the same thing, would it have happened to them?

DOMONOSKE: Conner says she stopped being a victim and she started organizing.

CONNER: We wasted so much time in between the two shootings. We're not going to do that anymore.

DOMONOSKE: Now, she has spoken at rallies. She's met with the governor. She took a bus full of students to the Kentucky State Capitol.

CONNER: I'm always thinking about it, so I might as well be doing something about it. Even if nothing comes out of this, I need to know I've done everything I can.

DOMONOSKE: Dozens of students attended a sit-in. More than 180 walked out of school. And Adams is one of several students speaking at a local rally on Saturday.

SETH: We're just getting together and discussing these things. It's cathartic 6 in some ways.

DOMONOSKE: Parents and administrators 7 say this level of student activism is basically unprecedented 8 in this area. But not everyone here is inspired by the Florida students. Scott Cosner is the father of two victims of the Marshall County shooting. One of his twins was shot in the face. The other was trampled 9.

SCOTT COSNER: They're both doing very well. They're both back at school, both running track.

DOMONOSKE: He's uncomfortable with the student protests he sees on the national news.

COSNER: I think some of it's a little over the top, you know, trying to turn a situation into something for a certain agenda.

DOMONOSKE: Cosner isn't big on protests in general, and he's firmly opposed to gun control.

COSNER: We're in a broken world. People are going to kill people all day long.

DOMONOSKE: His family owns three ARs. He says in Marshall County, guns are a normal part of life, and they're not the problem.

COSNER: Spend time in church. Spend time with your family. Spend time with your friends instead of, oh, we're going eliminate guns, and that's going to fix it because that's not going to fix it.

DOMONOSKE: Marshall County is rural. Hunting is popular. Guns haven't really been debated here before. And the student activists emphasize that they support Second Amendment 10 rights. Some of them focus on school safety, not gun control. But Adams makes the case for increased regulation.

SETH: I consider myself a firearm enthusiast 11.

DOMONOSKE: He thinks about how much worse his school shooting could have been.

SETH: Thankfully, for us, he only had the one magazine to blow.

DOMONOSKE: At least, he says, Marshall County is having a conversation about this now. It didn't used to be that way.

SETH: You'd mentioned gun control. The other people would say, no, Second Amendment rights. And that would be the end of the conversation. But now, I think given the tragedy that happens, you kind of have to listen.

DOMONOSKE: And if people are listening, he hopes maybe things can change. Camila Domonoske, NPR News, Benton, Ky.