GOP Ex-Lawmaker Attacks High School Students as Being Used to Push ‘Left Wing Gun Control’

On CNN’s New Day, former Rep. Jack Kingston—now a CNN commentator—doubled down on his claim that claimed high-school students were being used by “left wing gun control activists” for political gain after last week’s deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The Republican politician told host Alisyn Camerota that the students’ “sorrow can very easily be hijacked by left-wing groups… Do we really think 17-year-olds on their own are going to plan a nationwide rally?” Later on in the morning, Camerota interviewed some of the Parkland shooting survivors, who called Kingston’s comments “very despicable,” and “to say that just because we’re young we can’t make a difference is not right and he should apologize for that.” One of the students later describes how he went to the Florida State House and lobbied for gun control “for eight hours, minus the 30 minutes [he] took to have lunch.”