On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz, 19, opened fire on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Killing 17 and wounding 15. The shooter is now in custody; he was arrested without incident.

The shooting at MSDHS has made it the deadliest school shooting since 2012, and it was the 6th school shooting this year that left students either wounded or dead.

Cruz is an ex-student of the school; he was expelled due to behavioral problems. The school has not released the exact circumstances of his expulsion, but one of Cruz’s peers, Joshua Charo, claimed that he was selling bullets out of his backpack. Students were also warned after his expulsion to not let him on campus with a backpack. Joshua Charo also responded to the shooting by saying, “I can’t say I was shocked… He seemed like the kind of kid who would do something like this.”

Cruz was under investigation by the FBI due to a comment he made on YouTube that read, “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” The FBI concluded that they could not tell who wrote the comment. Due to this the neither the Superintendent Robert Runcie, nor the police received any warning about how Cruz could present a potential threat. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel looked into Cruz’s social media and said it was “very, very disturbing.”

During this dark and gloomy time, rays of light can be seen peering through the clouds, all one needs to do is look. Of those dead was MSDHS Assistant Football Coach and security

guard Aaron Feis, 37, jumped in front of students to shield them from bullets. He was then transported to the hospital but later succumbed to his wounds. Colton Haab, a 17-year-old junior had a close relationship with Feis. He told CNN he saw the coach running towards the gunshots. He said, “That’s Coach Feis. He wants to make sure everybody is safe before him.” Denis Lehtio, MSDHS’s spokeswoman for their football program also responded to the death of Aaron Feis by saying, “He died the same way he lived – he put himself second. He was a very kind soul, a very nice man. He died a hero.”

In the aftermath of the shooting, people appear to be scapegoating the problem. President Trump’s response to the shooting was standard, “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and, classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!” along with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, “Mental health is often a big problem underlying these tragedies.” However, a study published by the American Psychiatric Association in 2016 concluded that “Mass shootings by people with serious mental illness remain exceedingly rare events and represent a fraction of a percent of all yearly gun-related homicides.”

Activism among the surviving students can also be found in the new movement called the “Never Again” movement which aims at simply promoting a better background check system that could potentially have stopped this shooting from happening, and could stop more shootings in the future. In a speech that went viral, Emma Gonzalez, an MSDHS student, railed against lax gun regulations and money in politics. She said in her speech, “…If all our government and president can do is send ‘thoughts’ and ‘prayers’ then it’s time for victims to be the change that we need to see.” Later adding, “If the president wants to come up to me… and tell me that it was

a terrible tragedy, and how it should never have happened, and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association… It doesn’t matter because I already know — 30 million dollars! …To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA – shame on you!” Two other students slammed politicians’ responses to the shooting, calling them “disgusting” and “pathetic” while they were on CNN’s “New Day” program.

The Never Again movement is organizing a “March for Our Lives” on Washington set for March 24. Many school walkouts have also been organized. A nation-wide 17-minute walkout starting at 10:00 AM is set for March 14 with the aim in mind to urge Congress to enact legislation to protect schools from gun violence. Survivors at MSDHS have planned a walkout for the same day as the March for Our Lives protest in Washington, March 24. The final walkout is scheduled for April 20 to honor the 13 who were killed at Columbine High School almost two decades ago.

Update:

March 9, Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed gun legislation into law. This law applies the following changes:

• Raise the age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21;
• Require a three-day waiting period for firearm purchases, with some exceptions including for police officers, members of the military, licensed hunters and licensed concealed carriers;
• Puts a ban on bump stocks, a modification that allows semi-automatic weapons to mimic automatic fire;
• Enacts a voluntary program to arm school employees called a “marshal program.” Under the system certain employees including counselors, coache, and librarians, could be trained and armed. This program does not include full-time teachers;
• Adds millions of dollars to fund more school security;
• Expands mental health services and regulations. Additionally, the bill would allow police to temporarily confiscate guns from anyone subject to involuntary psychiatric evaluation, and also prohibits the sale of guns to people committed to a mental institution or those who were deemed “mentally incompetent” by a judge. Additionally, the police could keep a person deemed dangerous from owning guns for up to a year

The NRA has sued Florida over the part of the law the raises the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21. The reasoning for the suit, according to executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action Chris W. Cox said, “This bill punishes law-abiding gun owners for the criminal actions of a deranged individual. Securing our schools and protecting the constitutional rights of Americans are not mutually exclusive.” Congressman Ron DeSantis responded to this news by saying that the lawsuit is “probably going to succeed.”

The Department of Justice submitted a regulation on Saturday to put a ban on bump stocks, which were used in the Las Vegas shooting. A bump stock is a modification that is put on a high-capacity rifle which lets them fire like automatic weapons. Gun control activists have advocated the ban of bump stocks in the wake of the Parkland Florida shooting.