On the morning of Wednesday, September 4, 2024, a 14-year-old student brought an automatic rifle into Apalachee High School and killed two of his fellow students and two teachers.
This was the 385th mass shooting in the United States this year. How many more times will we have to say enough is enough?
Terror and violence in schools cannot be tolerated one more moment. Sign the petition to demand a ban on assault weapons and mandatory universal background checks.The
stories that we are hearing from students and teachers present that day are utterly heartbreaking. One student described students crying and hugging each other, unsure of what would become of them. Others talked about the trauma of having to
pass bodies and pools of blood as they sought safety.
These descriptions sound like warzones; how can people in power continue to allow this to be happening to children?Schools are supposed to be places of safety, where children can learn and teachers can guide them, in peace and stability. Instead, the United States' lack of gun control has turned them into battlegrounds.
The four people killed were math teachers Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14 years old. Their families, the other teachers and students at Apalachee, and the entire community will be irrevocably changed by the violence and loss that took place.
How dare lawmakers sit by for another year while hundreds of mass shootings are allowed to be carried out, many on school campuses with assault style weapons meant to kill en masse.It is still being determined how the shooter obtained the weapon in the first place, but it truly doesn't matter when there is only one solution: an outright and complete ban on assault weapons.
There is no reason for civilians to have guns that can kill masses of people in seconds. Enough is enough. Let this be the last time our children in the United States are terrorized in this way. Sign the petition to urge lawmakers to finally pass comprehensive gun control laws!