After the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL the demand for gun control has been more of a concern than ever. While gun violence has remained a controversial issue, immediate action has been demanded following this traumatic event where 17 people were killed, 14 were wounded, and five are still facing life-threatening injuries. On February 21, thousands of students descended upon the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee to call out Florida lawmakers and demand a call for action in the state and across the nation. Furious that immediate action didn’t take place, everyone’s main concern was that something would be done to ensure gun violence doesn’t occur again. Sheryl Acquaroli, a junior who survived the Parkland massacre, shared her voice as she stated, “The 17 who were lost were not just a number . . . they are people with stories and histories and families. You will not turn these 17 human beings into a statistic.”
Courtesy: Mark Wallheiser/AP
Following this event at the capitol where over 3,000 people gathered to rally for stricter gun legislation, three Tallahassee students were arrested on the same day for threatening to shoot up their schools. 17-year-old Travis Williams, a student of Godby High School posted on Instagram, “I’m going to shoot up amos p godby I swear just wait on 2/23/18.” Travis was taken into custody and charged with threats to cause injury and intent to kill. Then, only a few hours later rumors were going around that two more teenagers were making threats to conduct school shootings at their middle schools—Ghazvini Learning Center’s Second Chance and Nims Middle School. Their discussion was overheard by a teacher and their conversation was clear enough to apprehend their plan to bring weapons on school property and shoot up their schools.
This was addressed immediately and school resource deputies took the two 15-year-olds into juvenile custody.
Meanwhile, Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna addressed this issue by advising families to become more aware of the impact social media threats have on the community and reassured the worried families by saying, “The safety and security of our schools will always be our top priority.” Currently, state attorney Jack Campbell is doing everything in his power to prosecute these three teenagers. However, a law stands that if a threat is written but not addressed to any specific targets there is not enough proof to charge anyone with these accusations. This has created a stressful situation across the nation and many people wonder why a threat this serious isn’t enough evidence to prove someone as guilty. As of now, because of the position people have taken to promote safety laws this law is being revised to prohibit any kind of threat that may cause any harm even if it is not being addressed to a specific audience.
Courtesy: Joe Rondone