The nation is once again mourning the loss of students and teachers slain in a mass-shooting. Last Wednesday, 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The suspect, Nikolas Cruz, confessed to law enforcement.

Cruz took an Uber to his former high school (he had been expelled for disciplinary reasons), pulled the fire alarm, and started shooting when students began to flee their classrooms. The weapon he used, an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle, was also the type used in the Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Pulse Nightclub, and Las Vegas mass-shootings, spurring debates over whether the gun is a major public safety risk.

In the days following the shooting, many student survivors and parents of victims have begun to call on lawmakers to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again. Many declared that they were fed up with the offering of “thoughts and prayers,” instead calling for “policy and change.” In Washington, there have been conflicting proposals for preventing further massacres. Democrats have renewed their calls for decreasing access to military-style assault weapons and expanding background checks, while Republicans have called for improved mental health care and, controversially, arming teachers.

President Trump has been criticized for using the tragedy as an opportunity to undermine the Russia-investigation, tweeting “Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign – there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”

Video: Survivor-turned-activist Emma Gonzalez addressing a gun-reform rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The frequency and magnitude of mass-shootings have undeniably increased in recent years: the Seattle Times reports that 7/10 of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history have happened in the last decade, prompting some lawmakers to call mass-shootings an epidemic.

Proponents of change plan to rally in Washington, DC, on March 24 in the “March For Our Lives,” which was largely organized by the victims and families of those affected by gun-violence in schools. The “Stoneman Douglas Victims’ Fund” on the crowdsourcing website GoFundMe has already raised over $1.6 million by nearly 25,000 donors.