AFT’s Weingarten on Florida State Shooting

WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after a mass shooting today at Florida State University, following other incidents this week in Dallas and San Antonio. 

“This is the third incident of devastating gun violence in and around schools in as many days—and they’re occurring in states with the loosest gun regulations. Campuses and classrooms must be safe and welcoming places, but they can become unsafe in an instant because of the ever-present threat of gun violence.

“We are the only country in the world that regularly deals with this—but we don’t have to live this way. Today, we both pray for the dead and injured and redouble our efforts to advocate for common sense gun laws that could help end this grave public health crisis. We should remove weapons of war from our streets and communities, fund community violence intervention programs, enforce background checks and safe-storage laws, ban high-capacity magazines and pass more risk-protection laws.

“The perpetrator of this monstrous act must be held to account. Shooting innocent people is never a solution. And lawmakers must urgently move to thwart these horrific events that result in terrifying and tragic real-world consequences.”