this is "nightline." >> torn notice, president trump firing up a packed house of a loyal nra supporters. >> your second amendment rights are under siege. but they will never, ever be under siege as long as i'm your president. >> we're in florida with studen students, survivors, and grieving families from the massacre that took 17 lives. is the president leaving them behind? blessed day. >> "handmaid's tale." stepping into the world of the acclaimed series. >> i don't usually do a lot of laughing or smiling when i do this. >> and margaret atwood, the author who started it ought.

>> it's strange, the dollhouse comes to life. >> the making of season 2 and what comes next in our favorite nightmare. >> i can't wait, i get to know what happens. may the force be with you. celebrating "star wars" day with the galaxy's greatest smuggler. a sneak peek at "solo krshlgs a star wars story." >> first the "nightline 5." >> save on cute tops and dresses and fitbit trackers. we set fitbit. it ends saturday. take an extra $10 off with coupon. jcpenney, style and value for all. if you've been diagnosed with cancer, searching for answers may feel overwhelming. start your search with our teams of specialists at cancer treatment centers of america. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts. >> number one in just 60 seconds.

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good evening. thanks for joining us. tonight, two very different portraits of the american gun debate. in texas, president trump promising to protect second amendment rights in front of thousands of cheering gun enthusiasts. while in florida, a search for the new normal. survivors of the parkland massacre struggling to balance their everyday lives with their newfound purpose. >> your second amendment rights are under siege. but they will never, ever be under siege as long as i'm your president. >> reporter: today, president donald trump making promises and revving up a boisterous crowd at the national rifle association's leadership forum. >> usa, usa! >> now thanks to your activism and dedication, you have an administration fighting to protect your second amendment

rights. >> reporter: taking the stage for close to 50 minutes in dallas, texas, trump made it clear where he stands on guns. >> we love our country and we believe that our citizens deserve a government that shows them the save love and loyalty in return. >> reporter: inside the convention center, hundreds of like-minded gun rights supporters were lined up, eager to hear the president speak. >> i think his message will be that he is here to change america, like he said he was. he also believes in second amendment, which most of us do as well. >> guns don't kill people, people kill people. >> it's critical that we continue to have the right to keep and bear arms to protect ourselves from an overpowering government, as well as other dangers that can harm our family. >> reporter: but as the gun debate rages on, hundreds of miles away in parkland, florida, these students, survivors of one of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history, continue to search for a sense of normalcy. for this one day, dylan

heading out to grab new shoes for senior prom. he lost his best friend, joaquin oliver, in the shooting. joaquin was victoria's boyfriend. >> joaquin's mom gave this to me this morning. it's the necklace he wore when he was baptized. she asked me to wear it tomorrow. i'm definitely putting flowers in my hair, as many as i can fit. i actually have some from the first bouquet of now there's joaquin ever bought me. i think that would be special, i could do that. >> reporter: victoria and dylan are just two of the many survivors who have channeled their grief into activism. after the loss of 17 of their classmates and teachers. >> we want change! >> reporter: inspiring nationwide school walkouts, protests, and a march on washington. >> this isn't the country that we should be living in. the whole reason we're being these annoying kids and fighting this fight is so that we can be safe. >> reporter: the passion of these parkland students inspiring many across the

country, including the president. >> in the aftermath of the terrible attack, i met with the survivors, the parents of school shooting victims, at the white house. >> reporter: sam zife was among the parkland survivors that attended that session at the white house a week after the shooting. >> i turned 18 the day after. woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. and i don't understand why i could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an ar. how is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? after columbine, after sandy hook? i'm sitting with a mother that lost her son. it's still happening. >> i wanted to get my point across that we don't need these types of weapons. we don't need to give civilians this type of access to be able to kill a lot of people ain a

little amount of time. if he really wanted to make america great again, this is how he would do it. >> and let's never let this happen again. please. please. >> reporter: also in attendance that day, a grieving father. >> my daughter has no voice. she was murdered last week. and she was taken from us. shot nine times on the third floor. >> reporter: andrew's daughter meadow tragically killed in the shooting the week before. his pain raw and palpable. >> all the school shootings, it doesn't make sense. fix it. should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it. and i'm pissed. because my daughter, i'm not going to see again. my daughter was meadow jade pollock and she meant the world to me and she's not here anymore. and she was my baby. she was my princess. she was everything.

so we can't let this go in vain. >> when this happens, myself included, when there was a shooting in another state, you just go on with your lives and you think it's never going to happen. but i'm trying to make sure that this doesn't happen again. >> reporter: in the aftermath of that meeting, president trump seemed eager to embrace a variety of gun reform initiatives. >> it doesn't make sense that i have to wait till i'm 21 to get a handgun, but i can get this weapon at 18. >> reporter: he championed more funding for school security, increased mental health scrutiny, and advocated the teachers should carry weapons a gun-free zone to a killer or somebody that wants to be a killer, that's like going in for the ice cream. >> reporter: the president even scolding congressmen for failing to stand up to the nra. >> some of you people are petrified of the nra. you can't be petrified. they want to do what's right and they're going to do what's right. i really believe that. >> reporter: at his nra speech in dallas today, no hint of

wide, sweeping reform. instead, doubling down on arming teachers. >> we strongly believe in allowing highly trained teachers to carry concealed weapons. highly trained. and we want highly trained security guards. >> reporter: andrew pollock agrees schools should have armed guards. >> just like there's a place for armed security at a courthouse, just like at the airport there's armed security, so i think as a nation, most americans want armed security to protect our children while they're at school. >> reporter: but for pollock, that change alone isn't nearly enough. >> you need entry points. we need metal detecters. a way to protect our kids and teachers is to make it no one can get into school with a weapon, whether it be a knife, an ax, a gun, a bomb, a metal detector stops that. and we owe that to our children to feel safe. and the teachers, they need to feel safe when they go to

school. and we fail them if they're not safe when they're in that classroom. >> reporter: in the nearly three months that followed the shooting, florida has proved it is possible to make progress. >> we should work together to make our schools safe for our kids. >> reporter: governor rick scott signed a law both increasing funding for school security and also raising the legal age to buy any gun in the state to 21. >> history made in that office today -- >> the governor signed a major new bill to beef up school safety -- >> to the students at marjory stoneman douglas high school, you made your voices heard. >> reporter: pollock was there when the bill was signed. >> both parties, democrats and republicans, came together in tallahassee and we got that senate bill 7026 passed. which is a historic -- it's going to start getting implemented in florida within the next few months and we're going to set an example for the rest of the country what could be done in other states. >> reporter: as for victoria and dylan, they continue to look

forward to prom weekend. >> i know he's like he's proud right now of like both of us. and how we're both going to prom and like we're going to have a good time just like he would. >> reporter: as the debate on gun rights rages on for the weeks, months, and years to follow. up next, we're with the stars and inside the writers' room of "the handmaid's tale" second season where the dystopian future is still unwritten. family's everyday routine. your roomba's two unique multi-surface brushes grab and remove everything from fine dust to large debris and even pet hair. and roomba uses a patented dirt detect™ system that attacks dirt in high-traffic areas of your home. so you can come home to clean floors everyday. you and roomba from irobot. better together. ( ♪ ) it's the details

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world where tyranny reigns and

we can't wait to go back. season 2 of "the handmaid's tale" is here and we celebrated by joining the original author, margaret atwood, as she shows us the world of her wildest nightmares. here's abc's david wright. >> blessed day. >> reporter: imagine what it would be like to step inside your worst nightmare. a make-believe world you created. >> they're reading. >> i know they're reading. >> they're not supposed to be reading. >> reporter: we're behind the scenes with author margaret atwood, visiting a world she imagined, "the handmaid's tale." >> it's very strange. the doll house comes to life. >> it's so incongruous to see you smiling in this outfit. >> i know, i don't usually do a lot of laughing and smiling when i'm wearing this. most of the time i'm just upset about something. some wrong that has been done to me. >> reporter: hulu's blockbuster drama starring elizabeth moss is now in its second season.

>> nine months can feel like quite a long time. >> reporter: the story is set in a totalitarian regime called gilead in what used to be the u.s. sometime in the year future. after a devastating coup. >> you girls will serve the leaders of the faithful. >> reporter: the new american regime is a thoueocracy that oppresses women in particular. they're not allowed to read or write or think for themselves. fertile women are enslaved, forced to bear children for the ruling class, impregnated by rape, and ultimately forced to hand over their babies. >> do you have a name? >> angela. >> reporter: it's as if the puritans borrowed a few ideas from the taliban and developed their own uniquely american caliphate. >> i'm a handmaid. how do i boil it down? it's impossible. can you google it? >> reporter: margaret atwood's

novel, published in 1985, is a feminist classic. i've read that you see this as a work of speculative fiction. >> speculative fiction, and specifically this planet could happen. we could do it. and with "the handmaid's tale," we could, because we have. >> reporter: she says everything she imagined, as awful as it is, has real-life historical precedent. >> the punishment for their crime is death by stoning. >> reporter: and that makes it especially eerie to walk around this place. this is the commander's study. it's kind of the man cave of the show. the handmaid's world, familiar but also quite foreign. look at the labels here. on the olive oil jar. on these cans. no words at all. just pictures. last summer, the producers allowed "nightline" to see the genesis of season 2 out in l.a. this is the writers' room, the screen writers tossing around

ideas. >> i like the assistant getting killed. >> martyr to the cause. >> reporter: most of the writers are women, as you'd expect for this show, but the creator and show runner is a man, bruce miller. >> the biggest danger to season 2 is being intimidated by season 1. and don't forget that we made season 1, too. it's not -- it's the same us. >> reporter: for years miller tried to get "the handmaid's tale" made. last year's award season proved him right. >> and the emmy goes to -- the handmaid's tale!" >> reporter: it swept, winning two golden globes and eight emmys. >> go home, get to work, we have a lot of things to fight for. >> reporter: in the first season the writers had to adapt the novel. now they're off-book. atwood never wrote a sequel. >> i can't believe i get to know what happens after the end of that book. >> at least you know you're not going to be killed off very soon. >> i know. >> reporter: the tv show debuted against the backdrop of donald trump's america. thankfully we're not living in

gilead yet. >> we're not living in gilead yet, but there are gilead-like symptoms going on. >> reporter: the show is now so relevant, protesters have shown up as handmaids at women's marches. and last week's white house correspondents' dinner, there was even this joke at sarah sanders' expense. >> i have to say i'm a little starstruck. i love you as aunt lydia in "the handmaid's tale." >> do you think it would have resonated quite so much if hillary clinton had won? >> no. >> i do think it would have been a little more of, oh, this is definitely something that we missed the bullet. >> exactly, narrowly missed it. >> reporter: even cast members are surprised at the show's impact. actor joseph fiennes. >> it hit the political zeitgeist in the way we look at men and women and sexuality and the lack of parity and the lack of distribution of power. >> do you make all these things yourselves? >> honey, we make at least 90%. >> reporter: ann crabtree

designs the costumes. >> this wall is everything from last season. >> reporter: among the costumes, hints about the new season. >> this is going to be an upcoming story. it's a faded color. i can tell you it's more faded than this color, which is a serena joy color. are you curious now? >> very curious. >> you have to watch. >> reporter: crabtree also designed those iconic white bonnets. >> want to try it? >> can i? >> i think you have to. i have to put it on you because it's almost a sacred moment, brother. are you ready? you go like this. you feel that? >> reporter: i'll confess i'm not much of a handmaid. you feel completely blinkered. >> and the sound is different? >> and the sound is different. >> reporter: between takes those costumes tend to get covered up quickly. as soon as the cameras stop rolling, canada goose jackets. this is toronto, it's the dead of winter, it's cold. >> canada is the land of freedom

in this show. >> the cold wed area small price to pay? >> yes. small, small price. possibly a big price. >> reporter: "nightline" tagged along with the show's crew as they scouted toronto locations for episode 10. >> what's back there? >> come, come. >> reporter: the show is so intense, people have said it's impossible to binge watch. so when elizabeth moss' character finally lets loose in the finale of season 1, she says what we're practically shouting at our tv sets at home. >> you are -- [ bleep ] you crazy evil bitch! >> don't get upset. it's not good for the baby. >> reporter: for yvonne strahovsky, that was an especially tough scene. >> i just want to give lizzy a hug and not do the thing that i have to do on camera. i find myself apologizing a lot in between takes.

>> do you? >> yeah, sorry. >> you know, it's acting. it's not real. >> reporter: elizabeth moss says, as important as the message is, so is the story. >> ultimately, we want to tell the story of our particular characters. we're not really trying to send a message, necessarily. we're just trying to hold up a mirror to society. >> reporter: the handmaid's tale, season 2, on hulu. i'm david wright for "nightline." under his eye. up next, another trip to the galaxy far, far away in "solo: a star wars story." shrimp fans - this one's for you. it's red lobster's new create your own shrimp trios. pick 3 of 9 craveable creations for just $15.99. you can enjoy the classics you love, along with new creations like savory crab-topped shrimp, decadent parmesan truffle shrimp scampi, and creamy shrimp and lobster pasta.

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finally tonight, we celebrate this "star wars" day with an old friend, han solo, returning to the big screen with his very own origin story. and here's a taste of adventures to come. >> here they come! >> let me give you some advice. assume everyone will betray you, and you will never be disappointed.

>> i got a really good feeling about this. >> since when do you know how to fly? 190 years old? you look great! push it! >> may the force be with you. solo: a star wars story" is in theaters may 25th. thanks for watching, "nightline." "nightline." as always we are online at our only one candidate for governor when students were stuck in failing schools, led the fight to turn them around. as mayor of l.a., antonio villaraigosa invested in classrooms and security. graduation rates soared. antonio for governor.