On Wednesday night, CNN held a town-hall event where several lawmakers took questions from students who survived the recent mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. When it was time for Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to take a question, he was pressed on his history of accepting donations from the NRA.

Rubio grilled

Over the last week since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the debate over gun control has become the number one political issue on the minds of millions of Americans.

Unlike other school shootings in the past, the students who survived the latest attack have come out in full force, demanding action be taken to produce better gun laws in the country. After Donald Trump held his "listening session" at the White House, CNN followed up with their own town-hall event on the same topic.

As reported by CNN on February 21, one of the students who survived the shooting, Cameron Kasky, appeared on stage to address the senators, but made sure to take aim at Marco Rubio due to his history of collecting donations from the NRA. "Sen. Rubio, can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA?" Kasky asked. The crowd erupted in applause, silencing the lawmakers on stage.

Once the noise died down, Marco Rubio gave his answer. "People buy into my agenda, and I do support the Second Amendment," Rubio replied.

"I bet we can get people in here to give you exactly as much money as the NRA would have," Cameron Kasky responded. The Florida senator did his best to dance around the issue, including publicly opposing Donald Trump's suggestion to arm teachers at public schools, though it was made more than clear that the hundreds in attendance were on the side of Kasky.

Next up

While both sides of the issue continue to debate, only time will tell what steps the White House finally takes moving forward. Earlier in the day, Donald Trump announced that he would consider strengthening the nation's background check laws, as well as get behind a bill that would ban bump stocks.

Despite this, the NRA took a defensive approach, coming out publicly to oppose any legislation that would change the age requirements for individuals to purchase specific guns. The NRA is well-known to be influential when it comes to politicians in Washington, with their donations overwhelmingly favoring Republican lawmakers over their Democratic counterparts.
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