Are these child activists just puppets for the anti-gun lobby?

I say they are being used as puppets for one reason-- they don't know the first thing about the NRA.

Kids who were completely disinterested in firearms before this shooting couldn't spell NRA (yes, I'm exaggerating) much less were 'experts' on the political activities of the NRA. I'll bet that I could count on one hand the number of student activists who have actually read the mission statement of the NRA, yet somehow they all jumped on the same bandwagon of making the NRA some boogeyman and threatening to vote out (once they are old enough to vote, that is) anyone who takes contributions from the NRA. THAT idea was planted in their heads.

They could have hidden the agenda better if they had stuck to the 'take away our guns/ rights' (except our privacy rights... no clear backpacks or requirement for ID's) message rather than so pointedly targeting the NRA...
"Kids who were involved in a school shooting don't like guns" makes perfect sense and is perfectly believable.
"Kids who were involved in a school shooting organically launch a large and well choreographed movement against a major conservative organization utilizing money and organizational expertise provided by large liberal organizations ('Women's march, Planned Parenthood, the Clooney's, Oprah, etc.)" is what is actually going on here.
Boycotting or bullying any person who espouses a different view or set of values from you (in this case, the NRA) is straight out of the liberal, community organizers' playbook, and anyone who has been paying attention for more than 5 minutes (unlike these child activists it would seem) sees it for what it is.

Claiming the NRA is responsible for killing innocent people-- nothing could be farther from the truth.
I have not researched every gun crime in America, but I would challenge anyone to provide data that suggests a single gun crime was committed by an NRA member. (Not being sarcastic here... I would actually be VERY interested to know of any case where a murder or robbery using a firearm was done by a member of the NRA.) Very, very few gun accidents are caused by NRA members or their families. For all the liberal JFK worshippers out there-- guess what? JFK was a proud LIFETIME member of the NRA.
The mission of the NRA is very heavily weighted toward self defense against attacking criminals and training people to be RESPONSIBLE gun owners while of course defending the 2nd Amendment against those that would see us removed of any legitimate means of self defense against either a tyrannical government or criminals (who by definition do not abide by laws, so would still have firearms even if they were banned). It does NOT advocate violence, nor does it have a problem with background checks and denying access to firearms to mentally unstable or dangerous individuals.

These kids have exactly ZERO beef with the NRA on its real principles, yet they have decided to make The NRA--NOT the mentally deranged murderer who would NOT have passed a 'good' background check if the feds had all the appropriate information and who would have been roped in BEFORE he went on his murderous rampage had the FBI not dropped the ball-- public enemy number 1?
Why not 'blame' the murderer?
Why not 'blame' the FBI?
Why not 'DEMAND' full compliance with States providing required information to the database used to conduct background checks? (Oh wait... that includes citizenship status... Nevermind. We'll give not populating the background check database a pass...)

Nope... we are going to attack the NRA-- a peaceful (albeit well armed) entity that had absolutely NOTHING to do with any school shooting EVER... That makes perfect sense.

While I think that these kids aren't too cognizant of the rights they're willing to sacrifice, the argument they're advocating needs to be addressed. Using ad hominem attacks against them doesn't weaken their argument it does damage to your own.

The only sensible thing is to have an open debate where the points can be argued. If one side resorts to conflating the other side as evil they've essentially given up on civil discussion and you can see that further discourse is counterproductive. That CNN townhall is a good example of proving your point is based on emotion rather than reason. Sen. Rubio gave a good and reasonable defense of his position and a kid was allowed to conflate his position with pointing a gun at him (as hominem). In an open debate, the one who can give reasons without emotional appeals is usually arguing from a more sound position.

I don't think they are puppets exactly. I do think they are being manipulated. They want to fix the problem and that is admirable, but I think they are being used by certain folks. They want a quick and easy fix to a complex issue. Goes along with how our society is now. Guns are just an easy thing to target and they are being manipulated to pushing that agenda. I firmly believe we need to fix this issue, but not at the expense of the rights of the law abiding. I seem to remember a quote about sacrificing liberty for temporary false security...

I suspect they are what Lenin (probably) referred to as useful idiots. They may not even realized they are being used and manipulated.

Completely. VICE News had a piece where they were receiving coaching on a buss (SOMEONE had to PAY for) via phone on speaker. Another part showed how their perspective was strictly to target conservative legislators (as opposed to having a message for ALL who may benefit from it).

No. Many of these children were in schools or classrooms where their friends were shot and killed. They feared for their lives doing something they believed would be safe...getting an education. I think they have plenty of reason to be activists and agree or disagree they have a valid reason to make their point about gun violence. It wouldn't be an honest debate if they weren't allowed the opportunity to speak. Isn't that the reason many of us served?

The 'NRA firearms lobby' represents 7 million families, hunter & firearms safety classes across the USA. The one kid at the school in Florida that would remain very pro firearms, the one that helped fellow students to safety, was killed by the shooter.

NRA firearms lobby represents 7 million families, hunter & firearms safety courses across the US. The one kid in Florida, at that school shooting, that no doubt would have remained pro-firearms, alas he gave his life helping others to safety & confronting the shooter.

Paid for with dollars, money for meals, transport, lodging fifteen minutes of fame and promises made. Do this for us children, say this for us children, believe in this children and you shall receive. Spit in the face of hundreds of thousands of service members that held weapons and never turned against the innocent. Condemn hundreds of thousands of citizens that obey the law of these United States then swear to the same citizens you are not against them just their guns. If you will just give up your guns all will be good and kind. The government elite will provide. Yes, just like the government provided for all the Veterans medical needs.

These child "activists" are shills for the various dhimmicrap sponsored/funded/ encouraged groups. None of the more visible Parkland "activists" was even close to the shootings. Numerous attempts to discern their locations have failed. They are, IMO, frauds who've reached the end of their utility to the anti-gun groups. The pathetic thing about these people is their squelching of the true victims' speech. They refuse to deal in facts: the number of firearms has increased astronomically, the number of murders has decreased by the same margin. Firearms are used defensively as many as a half-a-million times annually.