Enough is Enough

Last week on Valentine’s Day, a 19-year-old was dropped off by an Uber driver at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It was 2:19 p.m.­­––classes were about to let out for the day.

The 19-year-old was carrying a soft black rifle case. In an excruciating nine minutes, 17 students and staff were dead or dying. Fifteen more were severely wounded.

In September 2017, the FBI received a tip from a YouTube user whose page was commented on by a user named “Nikolas Cruz,” the name of the gunman. The comment read: “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.”

The FBI received another tip in January. They did nothing.

Cruz’s mother died last year, and since her death, he had been living with the Snead family. The Sneads said they saw signs of depression in Cruz, but they never thought he would be capable of such a crime. The family even let Cruz keep the guns he owned with him in the house within a lock box.

Along with struggling with depression among other mental health issues, Cruz was expelled from Douglas High School during his time there. The family’s lawyer, Jim Lewis, said he encouraged Cruz to work toward his GED and take a job at the local Dollar Tree store.

At the forefront of many individuals’ minds is perhaps the guns in Cruz’s possession, most notably, the semiautomatic AR-15 Cruz used in the attack. The AR-15 was purchased legally at Sunrise Tactical Supply in Florida the prior year.

The 17 families buried their loved ones lost in this senseless tragedy. Parents planned their children’s funerals. Wives said goodbye to their husbands. These homes will never be the same. Those students will never graduate high school.

Survivors of the shooting are rallying together under the cry #NeverAgain, and dozens of students and staff departed for the state capital on Tuesday to speak to lawmakers about school safety and gun control.

The students who survived the mass shooting are strongly advocating for gun reform. Parents and teachers stand in solidarity with the students hoping this tragedy will shake lawmakers to do more.

Andrew Pollack, father of Meadow Pollack who was one student lost in the shooting, told a CNN reporter he will not waiver in his efforts to change legislation.

“I’m not gonna let my daughter’s death go in vain,” Pollack said. “I promised all these kids that I’ve been talking to that they’re gonna go to school and they’re gonna be safe, and we’re gonna have a movement.”

When tragedies such as school shootings occur, it’s impossible to make sense of the “why” behind the attacks. As mourning citizens, we immediately raise fingers to point the blame on guns, school security, lack of preparation, law enforcement, gun retailers and the poor monitoring of mental health.

Broward County school board member Donna Korn said the school had undergone levels of “active shooter training” to prepare for such events. However, because the student used to attend the school, he was aware of the procedures set in place and easily thwarted the safety plans.

It’s so easy to point fingers and heap blame on a variety of factors. While I believe stricter laws should be set in place, tragedies are not the time to push an agenda, especially when so many people attempt to cleverly disguise selfish motives with authentic grief.

Whether you hate guns and cry out for enforcement, or you are a proud gun owner, something needs to be done.

Solutions continue to be proposed, but I don’t believe the solution we decide on has to be an “all or nothing” approach. The issues involved in several of these mass attacks begin long before the first shot is fired.

Warning signs were reported to the FBI, who not only failed to act, but also must bear the burden of 17 lost lives.

There is often no way to predict someone will carry out such a violent act, but in this case, there was. When a comment is reported to the FBI stating, “I’m going to be a professional school shooter,” something should have been done.

This could have been prevented. Tragedies like this can still be prevented, but it is critical for our government to step up and do something. Stricter school security, following up with warning reports and tips, giving teachers more resources to protect their students––these are just a few ways we can create change.

How many more lives need to be lost before we finally say enough is enough?

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