Parkland school shooting activists meet with Waffle House hero James Shaw Jr.

Several survivors from the mass shooting in a Parkland, Florida high school this past February recently met up with the man who stopped a potential mass shooting at a Nashville Waffle House last month.

James Shaw Jr., a 29-year-old electrician, has been hailed as a hero for wrestling an AR-15 away from an active shooter at a Nashville-area Waffle House in April.

Shaw tweeted photos of his Saturday meetup with the survivors-turned-activists, who began calling for gun reform after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 dead in February.

The group met up in Florida, after which Shaw tweeted, “Meeting the young adults of the Parkland incident so much fire and inspiration in their eyes was a great joy. I met one of my heroes today,” referring to student and activist Emma González.

Shortly after the shooting in Nashville, which killed four people and injured two, González tweeted out a picture of Shaw captioned, “my hero James Shaw Jr.”

Since the incident at Waffle House, Shaw has joined the fight against gun violence. Shaw also recently set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the families of the victims of the Waffle House shooting. So far, the campaign has raised over USD$240,000, far surpassing its goal of USD$15,000.

David Hogg, the controversial and vocal teen activist who butted heads with U.S. President Donald Trump on occasion, also attended the meetup. He tweeted shortly afterwards, “Wow just, wow @JamesShawJr9 lots of work ahead but the young people will win.”

Shaw responded with, “Thank you great meeting you all, let’s keep inspiring and bringing ppl together.”

A few months ago, students formed a national movement called ‘March For Our Lives,’ which has challenged lawmakers and criticized the National Rifle Association’s resistance to new gun control laws.

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The NRA has pushed back against the students, declaring that they have “confused Americans” over constitutionally protected gun rights.

The shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School took place on Feb. 14 of this year, and left 17 dead and wounded over a dozen more. A few months later, on April 22 of this year, a gunman open fired on a Nashville-area Waffle House. Four people were killed and two were injured before Shaw managed to take the gun off the shooter, potentially saving several lives.

-With files from Reuters