Parkland Florida School Shooting

February 14, 2018 marked the most traumatic day since this year started. With 18 school shootings as of 2018, the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida is identified as one of the worst school shootings in the U.S. today. With 17 total dead and 14 injured, the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, accomplished his dreams. “I’m going to be a professional school shooter”, Nikolas posted as a Youtube comment and unfortunately, the FBI failed to take action based on the severity of this comment. The normalcy of his actions before and after the shooting are nerve-racking. He requested an Uber to get dropped off at the school and seemed to fit in with the other high school students. After 6 straight minutes of shooting, Nikolas blended in with the students that were fleeing and continued on like nothing happened. He finished off at a Walmart, Subway, and McDonald’s before a cop recognized his outfit being similar to the suspect, leading to his arrest and even later to his confession of being the shooter. It has been said that one is likely to casually walk past a murderer 36 times in their lifetime. In today’s society, situations like these mean posting opinions and thoughts on the event. There is nothing wrong with that because everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but there is no mercy when it turns into an argument on social media of who is right and who is wrong. People end up making it about their opinions rather than the true situation at hand, which is insensitive and inconsiderate. For example, with this shooting, the controversy of gun control mounted. There is always going to be two sides on this matter and people still choose to try to change each other’s opinions based on their beliefs. This is a time where we need to reflect on what really happened and how it can be stopped, rather than petty fight over the right stance on gun control. Donald Trump offered his prayers to the victims’ families, but that’s not enough. There needs to be change.