. >> my name is sam zeiff. i'm a student from marjory stoneman douglas. i was on the second floor in that building, texting my mom, texting my dad, texting three of my brothers that i was never going to see them again. and then it occurred to me that my 14-year-old brother was directly above me. in that classroom. where scott beagle was murdered. scott beagle got my brother and the class. he was the last kid to get back into that class. i turned 18 the day after, woke up to the news that my best friend was gone and i don't understand why i can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an ar. how are we not stopping this after columbine, after sandy hook? i'm sitting with a mother that lost her son and it's still happening. >> so much emotion in that room. >> painful. >> i hope the legislators and people of the white house were listening yesterday during that listening session. so while the listening session was going on, hundreds of students from the washington, d.c. area walked out of school yesterday afternoon to call for gun reform. they started at

zam zeiff has been our guest tonight. sam, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> and joining us now to talk what we witnessed today, jenna johnson, political reporter for "the washington post," and jeremy peters, political reporter for "the new york times" and an msnbc contributor. jenna, that's hard to follow, it's hard to say anything, really. do you think minds were changed at the white house today where it counted? >> it really doesn't seem like it. this was a remarkable event for this white house. the president really doesn't like to put himself in situations where he's confronted with positions that he doesn't agree with or people who might confront him about what he's done or has not done. so it was remarkable for the white house to invite such a wide variety of people to come and to talk openly for 70 minutes. and it appeared that the president was listening. intently listening. but then when he spoke, he didn't really reflect any of the solutions that he was hearing from people. he really still clung to this one solu

. >> we're going to hear more from that young man, sam zeiff, here live in just a moment. the president was armed with talking points and questions that happened to be grabbed by cameras. he promised to take steps and asked for ideas and talked possible solutions. >> we're going to be very strong on background checks. very strong emphasis on the mental health of somebody. and we are going to do plenty of other things. it's called concealed carry where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them. they'd go for special training. and they would be there and you would no longer have a gun-free zone. if you had a teacher with -- who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack quickly. and the good thing about a suggestion like that, and we're going to be looking at it very strongly and i think a lot of people are going to be opposed to it, i think a lot of people are going to like it. >> the shooting at parkland high has ignited a movement among high school students across the u.s., and this time this reaction feels different. today protests spread from state to

. >> my name is sam zeiff. i'm a student from parkland. i just want to take a second, first, to thank you for having me, mr. president, mr. vice president, mr. secretary. i was on the second floor in that building. texting my mom. texting my dad. texting three of my brothers. that i was never going to see them again. and then it occurred to me that my 14 year old brother was directly above me in that classroom where scott beagle was murdered. scott beagle got my brother in the class. he was the last kid to get back into that class. that's why i'm here. i lost a best friend who was practically a brother. and i'm here to use my voice, because i know he can't. and i know he's with me, cheering me on. to be strong, but it's hard. and to feel like this, it doesn't even feel like a week. time has stood still. to feel like this, ever, i can't, i can't feel comfortable in my country knowing that people have, will have, ever going to feel like this. but i want to feel safe at school, you know. senior year and junior year are big years for me, when