Students March from Florida State University to the State Capitol to Demand Action in the Wake of University Shooting

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Today, volunteers with the Florida State University (FSU) chapter of Students Demand Action, alongside the Florida A&M University Students Demand Action chapter, Team Enough, and March for Our Lives, marched from campus to the Florida State Capitol to call on lawmakers to prioritize gun safety legislation in the wake of the mass shooting on FSU's campus last week where 2 people were shot and killed and 5 others were shot and wounded. At a press conference after the march, students urged lawmakers to protect the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, specifically calling for the rejection of a proposed bill that would lower the minimum age to buy a firearm from 21 back down to 18, and pushing for the expansion of the state's secure storage laws.

"I wish it didn't have to take us being gunned down on our college campus for this country, our lawmakers, and the media to recognize gun violence for the crisis that it is," said Andres Perez, president of the Florida State University chapter of Students Demand Action. "Our generation deserves to grow up in a world where we don't have to worry about getting shot at school. We deserve to feel safe in our schools, in our homes, and in our communities.

And we need Florida's lawmakers to stand with us in order to make that happen."

"Last week, when the shooting happened on our campus, I wasn't there - I was just over a mile away, here at the Florida State Capitol. A 20-year old with a gun was devastating my school and I watched on TV from inside the very building where lawmakers have been debating a bill to lower the age to buy a gun from 21 back down to 18," said Sami Mason, vice president of the Florida State University chapter of Students Demand Action. "There is a clear disconnect between what is happening in our legislature and what is happening in our classrooms. I mourn the lives that were taken. We stand here today, united in this fight. To those lawmakers who want to repeal gun safety legislation: Do not ignore us."

"No one should ever have to experience a school shooting - let alone two - just to have to beg lawmakers to care enough to stop the next one," said Stephanie Horowitz, a graduate student at Florida State University and survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. "We're not asking for miracles-we're demanding common-sense gun safety laws that save lives."

Florida knows the trauma of gun violence on school grounds all too well. In 2014, a gunman opened fire in Florida State University's library, wounding three people. Just four years later, tragedy struck again when a 19-year-old former student legally purchased a firearm and used it to kill 17 people and injure 17 more at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In response to the horrific mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Republican lawmakers and then-Governor Rick Scott took bipartisan action, raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 - a commonsense step to protect lives.

However, this legislative session, extremist lawmakers are trying to undo that progress by pushing legislation that lowers the age to purchase a gun back down to 18, even though people aged 18 to 20 are three times more likely to commit gun homicides than those 21 and older. The last thing Florida needs is weaker gun laws.

Instead of rolling back life-saving protections, lawmakers should be strengthening them, starting with expanding Florida's child access prevention (CAP) law into a comprehensive secure storage law. Right now, gun owners are only required to store loaded firearms securely if someone under 16 is likely to access them. Criminal penalties for violating this law only apply if a person under 16 actually gains access to the loaded, unsecured firearm and then possesses or displays the firearm in a public place or in a threatening manner. This is not enough; Florida needs comprehensive secure storage laws focused on preventing all unauthorized access to firearms.

The FSU shooter was 20 years old. The current law wouldn't hold his stepmom accountable if her failure to securely store her handgun resulted in his gaining access. That gap puts all of us at risk. At the very least, lawmakers should expand Florida's CAP law to prevent access by anyone under 21 - to make sure those who are too young to legally purchase a gun can't gain unauthorized access to firearms.

In an average year, 3,108 people die by guns in Florida. With a rate of 13.7 deaths per 100,000 people, Florida has the 33rd-highest rate of gun deaths in the US. Gun violence costs the state $40.3 billion each year, of which $875.9 million is paid by taxpayers. More information on gun violence in Florida is available here.