'To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA, shame on you': Florida high school shooting survivors 'call BS' on gun laws and join thousands of protesters demanding change (17 Pics)

A student who survived the Florida shooting that left 17 people dead has called out Donald Trump - demanding he kick start legal change to prevent future school shootings.

Emma Gonzalez battled back tears as she delivered a fiery speech at the rally today, in which she said that students at the school were going to help change the laws in the memory of their classmates who died.

Challenging America's gun lobby and President Trump - who claim the main issue was killer Nikolas Cruz's mental health - Ms Gonzalez explained he couldn’t have done as much damage without a gun.

She told the rally, which coincided with Trump's visit to Florida: “We know that they’re claiming that there are mental health issues and I am not a psychologist but we need to pay attention to the fact that this isn’t just a mental health issue.

'We will be the last mass shooting,' said Emma Gonzalez, a senior at the high school who took cover on the floor of the auditorium as a shooter rampaged through the building 

Gonzalez cries as she hugs her father Jose Gonzalez at the rally. The senior took cover on the floor of the high school auditorium as a shooter rampaged through the building on Wednesday

"People are saying he wouldn’t have harmed that many students with a knife! How about we stop blaming the victims for something that was the shooter’s fault?”

Before heading to Florida Trump tweeted on Thursday: "So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior.

"Neighbours and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again."

The shooting is now ranked as the second deadliest act of gun violence on a US public school campus.

Cruz was arrested in a nearby community two miles from the school around an hour after the rampage

Ms Gonzalez, who was sat in the school auditorium when the shooting began, ended her speech by saying America's youth were "calling BS (bull s***) on Republican law makers who defended people's right to carry assault rifles.

She said: “The people in the government who are voted into power are lying to us.

"We are prepared to call BS. Politicians who sit in their gilded houses and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call BS.

Seniors Delaney Tarr, 17

David Hogg, 18,  both spoke out at the rally in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Cameron Kasky speaks at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday.

"They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence, we call BS," she continued.

"They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun, we call BS.

"They say guns are just tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars, we call BS.

"They say that no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred, we call BS.”

On Saturday Trump was staying at his Mar-a-Lago retreat, a short drive away from where the rally was held.