Victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman High School on Feb. 17 chose to unite and usher in change, and their government answered by drowning out their grief.
In just three minutes, the Florida House voted down a proposal to so much as discuss gun violence. Instead, they wasted time passing a bill to declare adult pornography a ‘public health risk.’
The Florida House also passed a bill to post “In God We Trust” in all public schools. Neither of those bills would have stopped the Marjory Stoneman shooter from committing his act of evil. Neither of those things will prevent the same thing from happening to FHS if we do not make ourselves heard.
We have to face the reality of the epidemic around our country. FHS is not immune from becoming another retelling of the same tragedy we see every few weeks. Our school lacks the proper security to stop a school shooter. The recent decision to card the IDs of students who enter after the 7:35 has only added a superficial layer of security.
Student resource officers attend the school on a daily basis, but they have only a few staff members who confine themselves to the lunchrooms and Dean’s office. They are certainly an advantage, but we need more protection. President Trump’s suggestions to arm teachers is outright ridiculous. Rather than forcing teachers to carry yet another burden, we should focus on increasing the police presence in our school.
More police officers would mean a more secure building. If a shooting begins, law enforcement’s response time could be almost immediate.The student resource officer at Marjory Stoneman waited outside while the massacre happened. A heightened presence would allow the officers to hold their co-workers more accountable to their duties, so when the time comes for action, the people whose job it is to protect us do not have the choice of standing idly by.
I agree to an extent with what Principal Urban said on the announcements in the wake of the shooting. We do “need to treat each other with respect,” as he stated, but we also cannot hesitate to report anything that could pose a threat. If there is anything to be learned from Marjory Stoneman, it is that any such statement must be handled with complete seriousness. The shooter gave off several obvious threats and warnings in the time leading up to the attack, many of which were not uncovered until afterwards.
The Student Resource Officers stated during the junior class meeting during SMART period on Feb. 27 that they received more reports after the shooting. This cannot be a temporary behavior. Making authorities aware of any off-color comment or appearance could prevent another seventeen lives or more from being robbed from our community.
John Jiler • Nov 3, 2018 at 1:35 pm
GUNS MATTER!
Dear Editor;
Autumn is deepening, and seniors are seriously thinking about their next step. For many of us, your generation is the hope of the future. The Parkland high school shootings galvanized young people across the nation to passionately advocate for common sense gun laws. Now, as your attention turns to college, we want to turn our admiration into action.
With the help of the Brady Center, the new Gabby Giffords consortium, Everytown for Gun Safety and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, we’re reaching out to high school journalists across the country with our list of the NOTORIOUS NINETEEN—the states with dangerous, inadequate gun laws. Many of them condone the open carry of weapons on college campuses, but even those who don’t have encouraged or tolerated a state-wide, lawless violent culture. Our mission is to make these states known to high school seniors, whom we encourage NOT to apply to college in:
ALABAMA, ALASKA, ARIZONA, ARKANSAS, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, IDAHO, KANSAS, KENTUCKY, MISSISSIPPI, MISSOURI, MONTANA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NORTH DAKOTA, OKLAHOMA, TEXAS, UTAH, WEST VIRGINIA, OR WYOMING.
We’ll be following up with letters to the Governors and legislators of the “Notorious Nineteen.” If they’re curious why their state-wide college applications are down this year, we’ll be happy to tell them!
Thank you for considering the publication of this letter in your newspaper. This is how the world changes. Good luck throughout senior year…… and beyond!
Best,
John Jiler,
Coordinator,
Committee for Scholastic Action On Guns