After FSU shooting, will we repeat our cycle of anguish, anger and inaction?
Parkland, Pulse, and now FSU — again.
In 2014, Florida State University was the scene of gun violence when a 31 year-old graduate of the school opened fire outside of the Strozier Library, wounding two students and a library employee. This time, two were left dead and six others wounded before police subdued the gunman, a 20 year-old student and son of a sheriff's deputy.
The response is all too familiar, too. Anger and anguish ringing throughout the campus and the wider Tallahassee community, followed by shock, outrage and ample of amounts of well-intended thoughts and prayers.
It's what's likely to happen next that is so discouraging.
As many mourn the FSU shooting, state lawmakers, a little more than a mile away, continue to push bills that weaken, not strengthen, gun safety laws in Florida.
Our View: Parkland anniversary: Thoughts and prayers won't stop these mass shootings
The Florida House has already gone on record, with a 78-34 floor vote, for HB 759, a bill that would roll back a key reform coming out of the 2018 Parkland massacre at the old Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The bill would reinstate the gun-buying age for buying rifles and other long guns back to 18 from the current 21 year-old requirement. There's also still support for open carry, a policy that would allow gun owners to brandish weapons in public. Gun-rights advocates have a friend in Gov. Ron DeSantis on that one.
State leaders can find ways to support the Second Amendment without neutering sensible gun safety policies, like background checks, red flag laws, registration and training, and bumper stock restrictions, if not outright bans on military-style assault weapons. Better data collection of gun violence that identify trends and lead to new solutions would help, too.
Officials are still trying to explain and understand the tragedy at FSU, leaving some to admonish that now is not the time to talk politics around changes to gun laws. The refrain goes something like this: "Now is not the time!"
We respectfully disagree, and we'd like to believe that our state leaders can walk and chew gum at the same time by acknowledging the Second Amendment and supporting gun safety. Our elected officials in Tallahassee have the means to protect both gun rights and gun safety. What's still missing is the will.
In the meantime, an all-too familiar aftermath and ineffectual response continues to unfold.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FSU shooting kills two victims. Enough is enough | Editorial
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