America has seen a mass walk-out in their schools as students protests against the gun laws that let the Florida school shootings happen.

Students and teachers at about 3000 schools have stopped lessons for 17 minutes, one month after the Valentine's Day shooting in which 17 people died.

The House of Representatives is set to reauthorise a program created in 2001 through the Justice Department to prevent threats against schools.

The legislation authorizes $50 million to intensify school security, pay for federal "threat assessment teams" to help school districts sort through reported threats, create an anonymous reporting system so that students and others can report threats and pay for training and technical assistance programs for law enforcement and school officials to help identify potentially violent behaviour.

However, the bill does not go far enough for many of the students, as it does nothing to introduce stricter gun control. Many are also planning to march on Washington next week.

US correspondent Rebecca Wright told Kate Hawkesby they face an uphill battle but they aren't willing to give up.

"It's likely to be slow going for these students but today's action and the upcoming march is a reminder that they will keep the pressure on."

Students from Stoneman Douglas High School, where the massacre happened, are pushing for consideration of a proposed federal ban on military-style rifles and a revamp of the national criminal background check system that failed to pass five years ago in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting.

- with content from Washington Post

LISTEN TO REBECCA WRIGHT TALK WITH KATE HAWKESBY ABOVE