Students from Florida, still reeling from the 2018 Parkland tragedy and a recent shooting at Florida State University (FSU), are imploring the state’s Republican-led legislature not to dismantle gun control measures enacted following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. These students are joining together in a bid to maintain rigorous gun restrictions, especially a statute that increased the minimum age for purchasing guns to 21, a point contentious among gun rights advocates.
The recent incident on the FSU campus, where two people lost their lives and six were injured, took place just a short distance from the state Capitol. As they recover from these harrowing events, student activists are renewing their call for tighter gun control as the legislative session nears its May 2 conclusion.
Stephanie Horowitz, who faced the Parkland shooting as a freshman and is now an FSU graduate student, voiced frustration over the need to continually lobby lawmakers for preventive action. “No one should endure two school shootings only to plead for change,” she stated. The suspect involved in the FSU shooting, a 20-year-old student, currently remains in hospital care, with charges pending his recovery.
Logan Rubenstein, another student who lived through the Parkland tragedy during his middle school years, believes the recent FSU incident could have been more disastrous if not for the 2018 gun laws. At FSU now, he calls for legislators to prioritize public safety over politics, urging them to uphold the existing legislation.
Post-Parkland, the Florida legislature enacted significant reforms; these included a red flag law enabling courts to confiscate weapons from individuals deemed dangerous, alongside raising the age for gun purchases. The FSU shooter allegedly accessed a gun through a familial connection to law enforcement, bypassing the legal purchasing barriers for individuals under 21.
In a climate shaped by post-Parkland policies, Rubenstein appeals for continued strength to sustain these measures, citing their critical role in safeguarding lives. Prior to the FSU shooting, a legislative proposal aimed at reducing the state’s gun-buying age to 18 was already facing hurdles in the Senate and seems increasingly unlikely to pass.
The emotional weight of recent violence was palpable in the Senate chamber when Republican Senator Corey Simon, representing Tallahassee, spoke solemnly about the devastation of such acts. In his appeal, he led a moment of silence for those affected, echoing a collective grief shared across the FSU community.
In the aftermath of the FSU tragedy, the family of one victim prepares for his funeral. Tiru Chabba, a father and Greenville, South Carolina resident, had been working on the FSU campus at the time of the incident. The tragic loss underscores the far-reaching impact of gun violence beyond the immediate community.
Among the Democrats advocating for stringent gun regulations is State Senator Tina Polsky, whose district spans Parkland. Despite sponsoring numerous reform bills, she faces significant resistance given the Republican supermajority in the state government. At a Capitol rally, Polsky passionately urged colleagues to act decisively as they had following Parkland.
Anna Eskamani, a Democratic representative, rallied students to persist in their advocacy, emphasizing the power Republican leaders hold to effect legislative change and the moral imperative to prioritize life over politics. Their collective plea is for conservative lawmakers to remember the stakes of inaction: preventing more lives from being lost.