The kids activists' response to Parkland materialized v quickly, going from interviews to hashtag to calls for specific action. Outrage is organic, but structure is not; even those who disagree should respect the ability to build a structure so quickly. How'd it happen? My take:
My guess is that the kids leading the Parkland movement are the kids at the school who already happened to have experience in organizing skills, and their response to the Parkland shooting was to use those skills.
They could have been taught by parents, or by teachers, or by just doing stuff as part of early political activity. My bet would be the Women's March, simply because that was so big and drew so many people.
Note that would also give them a good place to go for strategic advice and media connections -- if you've got it, use it!
The Women's March mentioned last year that they'd be doing gun control stuff (IIRC Sarsour did something with Everytown), but then fell quiet on it -- most likely for planning and research.
So the response could be bottom-up, but it could also be top-down. If I were the Women's March, I'd look at all the teachers in membership with organization training, and I'd track what schools they taught at, and I'd draw up a response plan to a school shooting, and wait.
Regardless, this is why activist organizations try to grow and train lots of people: bc the more people who know how to react, and plan, and provide structure to a response, the more places you'll have people who can do something, not just be upset with no power to do anything.
