By Veronica Rarick

The survivors from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting travelled north to Tallahassee, to wield their newfound political influence to Florida’s legislatures in an attempt to change gun laws. The outspoken group is setting out to change something as old as our country: the right to bear arms (as easily as America has made it). At least, that is their goal.

They have been met with support, but also opposition mostly coming from the far right.

Through social media, conservatives from different walks of life—publications, news correspondents, and everyday people—attacked the students motives to react the way they have done; they have even gone as far to say that the survivors are “crisis actors” that have been trained to stage “false flag” events.

An aide to Florida Representative Shawn Harrison sent a photo of two students to the Tampa Bay Times. The email read: “Both kids in the picture are not students here but actors that travel to various crisis when they happen.”

The accusation is false, and Harrison quickly distanced himself from the act. The Rep. placed the aid on leave, but the aide, Benjamin Kelly, later tweeted that he had been fired.

“I’ve been terminated from the State House. I made a mistake whereas I tried to inform a reporter of information relating to his story regarding a school shooting. This was not my responsibility. I meant no disrespect to the students or parents of Parkland,” he wrote on his account, which has since been deleted.

A far-right, pro-Trump website, Gateway Pundit, published a piece accusing one of the leading student voices. It included a picture of David Hogg with a circle around his head, stating that he is the son of an FBI agent. Hogg was one of the first students on air demanding harsher gun laws.

In a separate Twitter post, former congressman Allen West grouped the shooter Nikolas Cruz, with five Americans of Middle Eastern descent, and implied terrorist ties. There is no evidence that Cruz was a follower of an extremist Muslim group.

A current CNN contributor and former U.S. Representative from Georgia, Jack Kingston, questioned the kid’s intentions stating that the students are being led by “left wing control activists.” He continued by stating that sorrow is easily hijacked by left wing groups who have an agenda.

Parents of the survivors say that their kids’ voices are their own. Cameron Kasky’s, one of the main voices on TV, father told the Miami Herald that the parents are reminding their kids to “eat and drink and sleep,” but besides that the parents are staying out of their way.

Like in past mass shootings, the far-rights and pro-gun advocates have gotten their counterattack ready for the newest group of survivors calling for gun reform.

Bill O’Reilly, a discredited former Fox news anchor, took to Twitter to beg: “The big question is: should the media be promoting opinions by teenagers who are in an emotional state and facing extreme peer pressure in some cases?”

The survivors are not letting this get to them. Many of them travelled to Tallahassee, to the Capitol.

“There are people who are going to be putting us down. It doesn’t matter. Everything we’re doing, it can’t be stopped. We are children and we have a message. They are bashing survivors of a school shooting. You can go ahead, but our message is going to be heard loud and clear,” Diego Pfeiffer, a survivor travelling, said to the Miami Herald.