Parkland Survivor Lauren Hogg Says Clear Backpack 'Almost as Transparent as NRA's Agenda'

Parkland survivor Lauren Hogg returned to class after spring break on Monday carrying a district-mandated clear backpack. The 14-year-old said that measure, along with metal detectors, makes her feel like she was in a prison.

Hogg's school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, will mark the two-month anniversary of a mass shooting next week in which a former student shot and killed 17 of her classmates and teachers, including four of her friends.

In the aftermath, Marjory Stoneman enacted safety measures, including requiring students to have transparent backpacks and wear new ID badges. But as they arrived to school on Monday with their personal belongings in clear plastic bags, students said their sense of normalcy will never return.

"My new backpack is almost as transparent as the NRA's agenda," Hogg said in a tweet. "I feel sooo safe now. As much as I appreciate the effort we as a country need to focus on the real issue instead of turning our schools into prisons."

In a March announcement about safety procedures, which stated the backpack policy, the district said other measures such as metal-detecting wands and permanent metal detectors were being explored.

"All students deserve safe schools," Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert W. Runcie wrote.

In response to the school tragedy, Governor Rick Scott broke from the National Rifle Association and signed a $400 million gun bill called the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. It included measures such as raising the minimum age to purchase a gun, added restrictions on firearm purchases and also allows some teachers to be armed. The bill allocated funds to replace a building at the Parkland school.

Survivors of the February 14 school shooting are pushing lawmakers for gun reform and have propelled a wider youth-organized movement of solidarity walkouts and rallies. The recent March for Our Lives protest is being credited as one of the largest youth protests since the Vietnam War.