TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Sorrow reverberated throughout the nation Sunday as Individuals, together with President Joe Biden, joined a Florida group in remembering the 17 lives misplaced three years in the past within the Parkland faculty capturing bloodbath.
“In seconds, the lives of dozens of households, and the lifetime of an American group, had been modified ceaselessly,” Biden stated in an announcement launched Sunday.
The president used the event to name on Congress to strengthen gun legal guidelines, together with requiring background checks on all gun gross sales and banning assault weapons.
There was no time to attend, the president stated. “We owe it to all these we’ve misplaced and to all these left behind to grieve to make a change. The time to behave is now.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags be lowered to half workers from dawn to sundown throughout the state to honor those that perished when a former scholar of Marjory Stoneman Douglas opened fireplace on campus with an AR-15 rifle on Valentines Day in 2018.
When the gunfire ended, 14 college students and three workers members had been useless, and 17 others had been wounded. The suspect, Nikolas Cruz, remains to be awaiting trial.
In his proclamation for a day of remembrance, DeSantis requested fellow Floridians to pause for a second of silence at 3 p.m. Sunday.
“The Parkland group is resilient within the wake of tragedy, reminding us simply how robust and united Floridians could be within the face of such devastating loss,” the governor stated in his proclamation.
The Republican governor additionally famous a number of the faculty security measures enacted because the tragedy three years in the past, together with cash to put in panic alert programs at faculties throughout the state and to strengthen applications meant to stop violence earlier than they happen.
The panic alert measure was dubbed “Alyssa’s Regulation,” in honor of 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, one of many college students killed three years in the past.
However critics say the governor and Republican-controlled Legislature have carried out little to maintain weapons away from doubtlessly dangerous actors and have opposed the ban of assault-style weapons.
It stays to be seen what shall be carried out on the federal stage, regardless of Democratic management of the White Home and each chambers of Congress.
“This Administration is not going to look forward to the following mass capturing to heed that decision. We’ll take motion to finish our epidemic of gun violence and make our faculties and communities safer,” the president stated his assertion Sunday.
Along with background checks and an assault-weapons ban, Biden is looking on Congress to outlaw high-capacity magazines and make gun producers accountable for the position their merchandise play in violence.
“For 3 years now, the Parkland households have spent birthdays and holidays with out their family members,” Biden stated.
“At this time, as we mourn with the Parkland group, we mourn for all who’ve misplaced family members to gun violence,” he stated.
“Over these three years, the Parkland households have taught all of us one thing profound,” the president continued. “Repeatedly, they’ve confirmed us how we are able to flip our grief into goal – to march, arrange, and construct a robust, inclusive, and sturdy motion for change.”