The Florida student spearheading the gun debate in the US now has more followers than the NRA - Independent

The Florida student spearheading the gun debate in the US now has more followers than the NRA

Posted on 25/2/2018 by Darin Graham in news

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Two weeks ago, Emma González was a typical high school student. But then a gunman entered her school on Valentine's Day and killed 17 people.

Just two days later, she spoke out in an 11-minute-speech at an anti-gun rally in Fort Lauderdale and rose to become one of America’s most visible gun violence prevention activists. She’s 18-years-old.

And as of today, Emma has more followers on Twitter than the National Rifle Association of America (NRA).

@BeauWillimon

As of today, @Emma4Change now has more followers than the @NRA. It happened in less than two weeks.

This is a movement.

This is the future.

Change is now.

9:09 AM - Feb 25, 2018

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student now has 691,000 followers on the social media platform, while the NRA has 562,000. She is spearheading the gun debate in America along with several of her other classmates.

The NRA, which represents gun owners in the US, accused “failures” on the police and the high school where the shooting took place. It hit out at the #BoycottNRA trend accusing it of wrongly punishing it's five million or so members for the attack.

Companies - like airlines United and Delta, car hire firm Hertz and First National Bank - have pulled out of promotional contracts with the NRA.

The organisation is widely condemned for its lobbying of gun rights in the United States. It spends about $3 million a year on influencing gun policy, according to a BBC report.

There were 345 mass shootings in America in 2017 alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive.