A group of students gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday, April 22, five days after they barricaded themselves in classrooms when a shooter opened fire on campus, killing two and wounding six.
"As a leader, I carry the weight of this moment and turn it into purpose. We owe it to the victims, not just here at Florida State University, but across Florida and across our nation to make sure that this doesn't happen again," said Andres Perez, president of the FSU chapter of Students Demand Action.
Law enforcement officials say the suspected gunman is the stepson of a Leon County sheriff's deputy and used her retired service weapon in the shootings. Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil said it was not surprising that 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner would have access to weapons, noting that Ikner was involved with the sheriff's office, including training with the department and sitting on a youth board advising the sheriff.
Madalyn Propst, president of FSU College Democrats, called on FSU to put locks on classroom doors, train professors to respond to shootings, and increase financial support for mental health intervention and advocacy. She said the shooting "was both senseless and preventable."
"Although it is not a political issue when a mass tragedy happens, it becomes political when it is enabled by poor policy," Propst said in the Capitol rotunda.
"Because of a lack of proactive planning and poor policy on the hands of our legislators, there are two people who are dead who shouldn't be, six people in the hospital who shouldn't be, thousands of students who no longer feel safe on campus, and a community that is still reeling from a senseless act of violence, and no amount of thoughts and prayers is going to fix that."
Propst called on Congress to reinstate the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, and on the Legislature to expand safe storage laws to apply to any house that includes a resident who cannot legally handle a gun.
"Shooting after shooting, we're told to wait, and all we hear are 'thoughts and prayers.' And I'm sensitive to not politicizing an issue but, year after year, we file good, commonsense bills to help make our community safer and, unfortunately, they don't even get a committee hearing," Driskell said."Shooting after shooting, we're told to wait, and all we hear are 'thoughts and prayers.'"
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A Senate bill, SB 814, allowing students to carry guns on Florida campuses, lost steam earlier this session, and eyes are on the same chamber to see if it will pick up the House-approved bill, HB 759, to lower the age to buy long guns to 18.
"I'm Disgusted With My Legislature"
"I'm disgusted with my legislature and the people that I know some of my friends and my family voted for," Propst said. "The fact that they are able to sit in this place and prioritize weapons over my life, my friends' lives, and the lives of my community around me is deplorable."The House bill would reverse in part a 2018 package addressing school safety passed just weeks after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. A response as quick as happened in 2018 does not seem so certain this year.
"I think the only difference [between 2018 and now] is that it seems like the governor is desensitized to this. I mean, we saw the comments from President Trump, that, to me, was such a slap in the face to these students and to everyone in this community who's been impacted by this gun violence," Driskell.
Gov. Ron DeSantis released a video to X the day of the shooting and ordered flags flown at half-staff. President Donald Trump said, "I will always protect the Second Amendment," and, "These things are terrible. But the gun doesn't do the shooting, the people do," CBS News reported.
According to FSU, following the shooting it offered mental health assistance to more than 1,300 students Thursday through Sunday, including 604 on the day of the shooting and 520 on Sunday. The university continues to provide services through this week.
The school canceled classes on Friday and resumed classes on Monday, April 21, with optional attendance. The semester ends May 2.
Rep. Christine Hunchofsky, mayor of Parkland during the 2018 shooting, reflected on the FSU shooting during a media availability Monday.
"If you haven't been through something like this, it's very hard to understand the level of trauma that people who have been through this are experiencing and, if that doesn't get addressed early enough, it's something that can become debilitating in the long term. And so, it's so important to make sure that everyone has what they need," Hunchofsky said.
Minutes after the shooting on Thursday, Hunchofsky presented HB 1403 to the House Education and Employment Committee, a bill that would address school safety measures. It passed unanimously.
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