A Florida State University student told CNN that students like him need action on protecting their communities from guns — and for politicians who ignore the issue to take notice.
"I mean, prayers to you know, all my peers, the professors, the staff, the community. I mean, really, the country," he said. "You know, I'm going to call on, like, you know, Governor Ron DeSantis, the president, Donald Trump, for — you know, this stuff keeps going on, right? But we're, you know, praying every day."
"You know, prayer is good. Prayers, spirituality is good," he continued. "But you know, prayers don't do much, right? So, you know, it's good for the soul, but it is — it's still happening ... so, you know, we need to make some gun reforms."
The FSU shooting on Thursday left two people dead and five injured. The suspect was shot by law enforcement, taken into custody, and hospitalized.
ALSO READ: 'Alarming': Small colleges bullied into silence as Trump poses 'existential threat'
Florida Republicans passed a relatively substantial package of gun control reforms following the 2018 Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, which included a "red flag" law allowing temporary gun confiscation from people found with probable cause to be high risk, and an increase in the age to buy guns to 21. DeSantis and his allies in the legislature have since pushed to roll back some of these reforms, which were passed just before DeSantis was elected.
The most recent federal package of gun reforms was passed on a bipartisan basis under former President Joe Biden. Known as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, it provided incentives for states without red flag laws to adopt them and made some improvements to the federal background check system. However, efforts to make background checks universal for private gun sales, and a federal ban on so-called "assault style" features on guns remain at a standstill with near-total GOP opposition.
Watch the video below or at the link here.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
