FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Feelings of shock and sadness are reverberating through the country after yet another school shooting.
The tragedy in Nashville, Tennessee is heavy on the hearts of South Florida residents five years after enduring the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February of 2018.
Manny Oliver, who lost his son Joaquin in the Parkland shooting, is calling for a national strike in education until federal gun laws are changed.
Parkland parent Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jamie was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, reacting on Twitter, saying, in part:
“I am away in the mountains trying to get peace and take a mental health break. Sadly, gun violence does not take time off. The latest school shooting will leave more victims and broken families. We cannot harden on our way out of this. Tennessee, like Florida, is a state working overtime to weaken gun laws.”
Just last week, the Florida House passed a permitless carry bill which will allow gun owners in the Sunshine State to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
State Rep. Dan Daley of Florida’s 97th District is among the Democrats and critics of the bill who believe the measure will only make it easier for weapons to fall into the wrong hands.
“It really has to stop, and I know we say that after every one of these, but when is enough enough? What are we actually going to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to get serious about this issue,’” Daley said. “You’re eliminating a background check and taking away a training requirement.”