By Greg Halbleib

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has renewed his call for increased gun control after meeting with students from the Florida high school where 17 people died in a mass shooting.

Durbin (D-Ill.) spoke on the Senate floor to call on Congress to pass what he called urgently-needed reforms.

“While there is no single reform that could stop every shooting, we know there are big gaps in our gun laws that make it easy for criminals, abusers, troubled children, and mentally unstable people to get guns- even military-style assault with bump stocks,” Durbin said. “We need to start closing these gaps. And that requires the Republicans who control Congress to finally stand up to the NRA and do something the NRA might not like.”

Durbin earlier met with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who were in Washington to push for reform in gun laws.

“These students and young people across the country are changing the debate about gun violence,” said Durbin. “They are making clear how absurd it is for lawmakers to do nothing when Americans are getting shot every day in their homes, in their neighborhoods, at church, at a nightclub, at a concert, at school. They are fed up with politicians in Washington who ignore the overwhelming majority of Americans who want common sense gun reforms and who listen instead to a paranoid, bullying gun sales lobby.”