In the News
FLORIDA DEMOCRATS OBSERVE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF PARKLAND SHOOTING
Wednesday marks six years since 14 students and three school staff members were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Ahead of the anniversary, Florida Democrats held a press conference on Tuesday remembering the lives lost and highlighting the current state of gun laws in Florida and beyond.
“Today, tomorrow, and every day, we remember the students and staff who lost their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the families who live with the pain of this tragedy,” said FDP Chair Nikki Fried, after holding a moment of silence for the victims and their families. “As Democrats, we honor the victims of Parkland, Pulse, and everyday violence with action — and stand before you today determined to fight back against any attempt to make our schools and streets less safe.”
“We’ve done a lot of things in Broward County Public Schools to make our schools safer, but there are so many more things that need to be done,” said Broward County School Board Member Debbi Hixon, whose husband, Chris Hixon was killed after entering the school to confront the shooter. “We have done a lot of walkthroughs of the building with legislators, both locally and nationally, to see what those issues were and to help us to make schools safer — not just in Florida, but across the nation.”
“Not a day goes by when I don’t think about what happened on February 14, 2018,” said State Rep. Dan Daley, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumnus. “Facts and data don’t lie — most school shootings are carried out by individuals 18 to 21 with a long gun. We changed that law in Florida, had bipartisan support, signed into law by a Republican governor…the legislation has worked, it’s been a positive thing, and yet you’ve seen this Republican assault on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act.”
“True justice is about more than one situation,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, a long-time advocate for gun violence prevention. “True justice is when no parent, no person, no child has to grow up knowing that in their country, the most likely reason that they would be killed is with bullets. I think that’s unacceptable. And we’ll continue to fight and honor these lives with action.”
You can view the entire press conference here.
