Parkland High Students Share Message With Kennedy High

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Students in Sacramento are still on high alert three weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Rep. Doris Matsui paid a visit to Kennedy High School Friday for a town hall on ending gun violence.

"When young people get involved, things happen," she told the crowd.

Kennedy High School students packed into the auditorium Friday afternoon to join in on the conversation. It's not what you expect to see on a Friday afternoon at a high school.

"It's something that none of us should go through," said Adam Alhanti, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

He and his classmate John Barnitt added to the town hall via Skype.

"Once this tragedy happened, we knew that we had to make change," Barnitt said. "We need to make our voices heard."

"Our power is this right here," Alhanti said, holding his phone in the air. "Our power is with our cell phone."

As part of the gun violence prevention task force, Matsui is calling for a national ban on military assault weapons for civilians.

"It starts with all of you!" she said.

"If there were no weapons to worry about, we wouldn't need protection," Alhanti said.

These teenagers never felt the terror of the deadly shooting in Columbine. For them, Parkland – is the tragedy of their lifetime.

"I didn't know how to react," said Andrea Castro, a senior at Kennedy High School. "I was shocked, and I was terrified. I didn't feel comfortable with what had happened."

The takeaway for the young audience? Use the power of social media to push change and register to vote as soon as possible.

The call resonated with student Kobi Posey.

"We're going to be able to make a bunch more progress than past generations have," he told CBS13.