WASHINGTON (WTHR) - One day after hundreds of thousands of teens across the country marched against gun violence in schools, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said their time would be better spent "taking CPR classes."
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday morning, the former senator from Pennsylvania said, "How about kids, instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or maybe try to deal with situations where there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that."
He also said students should focus on how they individually can respond to violence in school, by helping stop bullying in schools and communities.
"I think everyone should be responsible and deal with the problems that we have to confront in our lives. And ignoring those problems and saying they're not going to come to me and saying some phony gun law is gonna solve it. Phony gun laws don't solve these problems."
Locally, thousands of teens and their supporters gathered at the Statehouse to protest gun violence in schools and call for stronger gun control laws. The snow forced what was meant to be an outdoor rally to instead be inside. It took so long to get everyone through security there were still lines of people waiting to get in hours after the event began.
The March for our Lives movement began in the wake of a shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. on Feb. 14. Nikolas Cruz is accused of killing 14 students and three school employees, and wounding another 17 people.
