Students appeal for more gun control
TALLAHASSEE (AP) — Florida officials have outlined their plans to make schools safer after a shooting that left 17 people dead last week, but some say they do not go far enough.
Talia Rumsky is one of them. Rumsky was among those who traveled to Tallahassee last Wednesday to lobby lawmakers about gun control. She said Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to make it illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase a gun is a start, but should not be the end of gun control efforts.
“This is a great first step, and we appreciate it,” the sophomore said. “But it’s not enough, and we’re going to make sure they know it’s not enough and is not solving our problems.”
Scott announced plans last Friday to put more armed guards in schools and to make it harder for young adults and some with mental illness to buy guns, responding to days of intense lobbying from survivors of the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland nine days ago. Scott unveiled his school safety proposals as teachers returned for the first time to the school.
While criticized by some as not going far enough, the measures are significant in a state that has not passed any type of gun control since Re- publicans took control of the state government in 1999.
After days of funerals for those killed in the attack, teachers began the emotionally fraught process of returning to the school last Friday to collect belongings from classrooms that have been off-limits since the slayings. Following an orientation on Sunday for teachers and students, classes resume on Wednesday.
Broward teachers union president Anna Fusco met with the teachers as they returned to the campus hailing them as “incredibly brave and strong.”
“I met with one that was grazed with a bullet... She has a hole in her arm and a bruise from her shoulder to her elbow that looks like somebody whacked her with a bat and she’s like, ‘I’m here because we need to get things ready,’” Fusco said.
US President Donald Trump said repeatedly last Friday that he favored arming teachers to protect students, an idea many educators rejected out of hand. Trump told reporters that schools need some kind of “offensive” capability to deter and respond to attackers.