On February 14th, students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland (Miami), FL were victims in a mass shooting. Seventeen people were killed - 14 students and three teachers - and fifteen more were taken to hospitals. The perpetrator, Nikolas Cruz, was arrested shortly afterward and charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Lamb Of God frontman Randy Blythe took to Instagram to air his thoughts on the senseless tragedy

 

2.15.2018 No more “thoughts & prayers”, please. You can take those & put them towards something that only God, fate, random chance, the universe, whatever you believe/do not believe in can affect- they might do some good there. Instead of “thinking & praying”, here’s a CONCRETE ACTION you can take- you can contact your legislators & DEMAND that there be some reasonable, common-sense gun law changes. DEMAND IT, & KEEP DEMANDING IT. Most of the American people, including a lot of gun owners, want this. Why isn’t this happening? How many more kids have to die until WE THE PEOPLE get fed up enough to force the government to do something? The time for “thoughts & prayers” is long past- it’s a slap in the face of people who continue to die as a result of crazy people armed with LEGALLY obtained high-powered semiautomatic weapons, weapons that are designed for JUST ONE THING- killing human beings. I grew up in the country, with guns in the house- these were shotguns, used for hunting. You don’t use an AR-15 for hunting deer, you use it for hunting MEN, or (apparently) CHILDREN. The lunatic shooter in Florida is 19 years old & can’t buy a six pack of beer by law because our society doesn’t believe he is mature enough to handle it, but he LEGALLY obtained a deadly weapon of war designed to inflict as many casualties as possible from a single person wielding it, & he used it to wage war on CHILDREN. What does this tell you about American society? Some people don’t like the term “assault rifle.” Ok, cool- why don’t we call them “Kid Killers” then? Is that a little better? Can we get a little KID KILLER control happening? Is it still “too early” to start talking about getting these KID KILLERS off the streets? Are the students who survived the massacre in Florida & who are publicly begging us, the adults in charge of things, for gun law reform “politicizing” the whole thing? Is it “too early” for THEM to bring it up? Should we just tell them to shut up because they are children & don’t understand adult matters, stuff like why crazy people can easily buy assault rifles & then SHOOT THEM DEAD in the classroom? NO MORE THOUGHTS & PRAYERS- THEY AIN’T WORKING.

A post shared by D. Randall Blythe (@drandallblythe) on Feb 15, 2018 at 11:47pm PST

Saigon Kick frontman Matt Kramer, a Florida resident, posted the following message regarding a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School  benefit show for the people and families affected by the shooting:

"I’ll be doing a super rare performance with Jason Bieler, playing some Saigon Kick songs at Revolution on Friday night (February 23rd) in support to benefit the families and first responders of Parkland. Please come out and join as we as a community come together in music and pay respects to the innocent children who lost their lives in such a senseless act of evil. Hope to see you and there."

Guitarist Jason Bieler weighed in with the following message shortly after the tragic events:

"Completely horrified, but not surprised... kind of horribly numb. This is my home town and family friends go to this school. Our government is full of spineless cowards and sadly this will just keep happening. After a lot of thought we decided to postpone the February 16th (solo) show out of respect for all those affected, and also to have more time to get the logistics together to do a proper fundraiser for the victims in the future. I'm going to be performing at Revolution Live as part of a benefit next Friday (February 23rd) along with a bunch of other musicians. Stay tuned for details. All proceeds will go to the victims and first responders."