Updated February 23, 2018 16:01:53

Photo: Seventeen people were killed when a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week. (AP: Joel Auerbach)

They've been dubbed the mass shooting generation. Innocent children caught up in inexplicable acts of violence.

Mass shootings have sadly become a way of life in America — so much so that they follow a depressingly similar cycle.

Take this from the Boston Globe:

But while the country has become somewhat numb to mass tragedies, this one is a little different.

First, it's staying in the news:

Second, the survivors are young, angry, and demanding change:

The students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are leading the charge.

Less than 24 hours had passed when they were making impassioned pleas to their congressmen and women on TV.

They didn't let up. Harnessing the grief of losing their best friends, they mobilised.

Busloads took the seven-hour drive from Parkland to the State Capitol.

Courageous kids took turns demanding change from their lawmakers and calling out the NRA:

With the movement growing, soon conspiracy theories followed. One suggested a student was an actor, while another that the grief was politically motivated.

The reply?

So what now for Donald Trump?

The situation puts Mr Trump in a unique position — a Republican president who has previously seemed willing to make some reforms to reduce gun violence.

But the conversation quickly turned to school safety and not guns.

In a remarkable and at times incredibly raw listening session at the White House, Mr Trump talked to survivors and family of victims from past atrocities like Sandy Hook and Columbine.

Nicole Hockley, whose son was killed in the Sandy Hook attack had this to say:

But when it came to solutions, even the crowd of victims was split.

Mr Trump picked up on an idea to arm specially trained teachers to better protect students.

Beefing up security in schools is an idea that's already being taken up in Broward County, where the Florida massacre occurred. Sheriff Scott Israel is directing deputies to carry rifles on campus.

CNN then ran a heated town hall meeting in which students, teachers and those affected by gun violence took on politicians and the gun lobby.

School kids in several states walked out of school to support the Florida students.

A number of protests are planned over the next few weeks including a walk out on March 14, a march on Washington on March 24 and a walk out on the 19th anniversary of Columbine on April 20.

Some gun owners have also responded:

The President wants to ban bump stocks and beef up checks

Mr Trump has directed the Department of Justice to ban bump stocks like the one used by the shooter in the Las Vegas massacre last year.

He's also flagged more comprehensive background checks and a bigger focus on mental illness.

While there's federal pressure for change (which is still unlikely to happen in any substantive way with a Republican congress), Florida is under specific pressure to act.

Late night TV hosts were onto it as usual, but pessimism about large scale change remains pervasive.

Today, the NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said many in the "legacy media" loved covering mass shootings because of the ratings that followed.

But I can tell you unequivocally after more than two years in America covering these tragedies: we don't.

Now onto the Russia revelations

While domestic politics on guns has dominated the conversation, the role of foreign actors — namely the nefarious behaviour of Russians — continues to feature as well.

Here are five new developments on Russia:

1. Thirteen Russians and three companies have been charged as part of Robert Mueller's investigation
2. A judge has rejected former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort's latest bid for bail
3. Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates are now facing a new indictment filed in Virginia that ups money laundering and tax evasion charges
4. A lawyer from a firm that used to work with Manafort and Gates has been charged with lying to the FBI about dealings with Ukraine
5. Donald Trump remains unimpressed

All of this, as the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull arrives in Washington for high level meetings with administration officials and the President himself.

The PM is facing lots of Barnaby Joyce-related questions but is trying to keep the focus on his agenda here, as he meets with the US secretaries of State, Treasury, Homeland Security and Commerce as well as Defence officials and Vice-President Mike Pence.

All but two premiers are also here meeting with US state governors in an effort to forge state-to-state economic relationships.

US governors are powerful people, and you never know, one of the current crop could be president someday, so in part this is about creating a positive view of Australia which could yield future benefit — as well as some more immediate business deals.

We've come a long way since that infamous phone call between the two leaders just a week after Donald Trump took office.

Both countries have been making a huge effort ever since to assert the importance of the relationship.

But the President remains ever unpredictable.

Topics: donald-trump, turnbull-malcolm, activism-and-lobbying, murder-and-manslaughter, antisocial-behaviour, crime-prevention, laws, united-states

First posted February 23, 2018 13:12:49