Parkland, Fla. • After Manuel and Patricia Oliver lost their son in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, they assumed their neighbors would be sympathetic. So when they protested gun violence last summer by staging a “die-in” at the local Publix grocery store, they were shocked by the reaction.
Gun rights activists and some shoppers taunted and mocked them. One stepped on Patricia's hand, saying, "I'm sorry for your loss," she recalled. Another man swore at Manuel while screaming his support for the National Rifle Association.
"We were shocked there were all of these people against us, in a very rude way," said Manuel Oliver, who advocates for gun control in memory of their 17-year-old son, Joaquin.