Parkland shooting sparks call for change

Art+by+Anna+Gorman

Art by Anna Gorman

Columbine High School in 1999. Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida becomes the most recent victim of a mass school shooting in America. On February 14, 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz, a former student who had been previously expelled, murdered thirteen students and three staff members and wounded fourteen others using an AR-15 rifle. He was later arrested after fleeing the massacre. According to CNN News, this shooting is now considered one of the ten most deadly mass shootings in modern U.S. history.

One week after the shooting, President Donald Trump met with shooting survivors and their families in a listening session. The President has shown interest in banning bump stocks and having gun-adept teachers carry concealed weapons in schools. Many of those affected by the shooting have rallied together to call to attention the gun control debate and have organized a march called the March For Our Lives to “end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today” as the march’s website states.

As more details of the shooting surface, Fox News reports the FBI received a tip from bail bondsman and YouTube vlogger Ben Bennight after a disturbing comment made by someone with the username “nikolas cruz” stating “Im going to be a professional school shooter” was posted on one of Bennight’s videos in September 2017.

As America looks back on the history of mass school shootings, many want stricter security in schools.

“I think metal detectors should be placed at every big entrance,” said sophomore Justin Fernandez.

Many Americans are also looking at the long term effects of secularism in schools as well as the aspect of mental illness in mass shootings like Parkland.

“There is no common morality that keeps people in check,” said religion teacher Mrs. Barbara D’Urso. “We [also] need to do so much more about mental illness.”

On February 28, Marjory Stoneman Douglas students returned to school. As America mourns the loss of the seventeen, the nation’s citizen’s aim for stricter measures and multifaceted change to occur in the immediate future.