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Senator Ed Markey addresses Florida school shooting

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Senator Ed Markey addressed questions regarding the shooting in Parkland, Florida to a crowd of 600 people at a town hall meeting in Framingham on Sunday.

Markey took dozens of questions, but the most passionate ones were concerning the ninth deadliest shooting in U.S. history that claimed the lives of 17 people on Feb. 15.

“I would say on the top of everyone’s list is what happened in Florida," said Markey.

In 2014, Markey introduced the controversial "handgun trigger safety act", a bill that would make fingerprint technology mandatory on all newly manufactured guns.

He then re-introduced the same bill in 2017, after the shooting that killed 59 people in Las Vegas.

Markey also continues to push for tighter and expanded background checks.

"People on the terrorism watch list should not be able to buy guns in our country – we can’t even get a vote in the Senate on that issue," said Markey.

He, however, believes the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School will be the tipping point in the gun safety debate.

“We are beginning to see the effort where more funding for mental health and tighter controls on access to guns is going to become top agenda item in the politics of 2018 in America," said Markey.

Among other subjects discussed, Markey highlighted issues such as health care, net neutrality, and climate change.

He also had a message for President Donald Trump on the investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election.

“It’s time for him to be the last person in the United States who accepts the fact that the Russians did try to compromise the elections of 2016 – there are people all across Trump’s administration that now concede that the Russians tried to compromise our elections, it’s time for the president to do so as well," said Markey.

Senator Markey holds these types of town hall meetings about once a month at varying locations around the state.