When a student opened fire at her Detroit high school in November 2021, killing four students and injuring seven others, Rebekah Schuler let go of the idea of ever feeling truly safe in school again.
Parents whose children were killed in the Robb Elementary School massacre made sobbing pleads for stricter gun laws before legislators early Wednesday on languishing proposals that appeared headed to stall in the face of a Republican majority.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Armed with two handguns and dozens of rounds of ammunition, 43-year-old Anthony McRae open fired on the Michigan State University campus on the night of Feb. 13, killing three students and wounding five more. Democrats are expected to bring a sweeping 11-bill gun safety package before the Michigan Legislature this week. The package aims to establish safe storage laws, universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders.
After 17 students and teachers were shot dead at a Florida school 23 miles away from her hometown, Ashley Freeland was afraid to step back inside her own classrooms.
“I was terrified to go to school the next day,” Freeland said, of that 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland. “And my parents were, like, ‘Ashley, you’ll be fine, you’ll be safe, just go to school.’ And I did. But I was scared to go and I know a lot of my friends were scared to go. “You don’t know where it’s going to happen next. And you don’t know who it’s going to happen to.”
Persuaded by that reality, Freeland raised $15,000 to outfit every class at 4,800-student Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Florida, with kits from the American College of Surgeons Stop the Bleed campaign.
Few among us are oblivious to the suffering that results from certain crimes committed by youthful offenders. As researchers and citizens, we agree that those who harm another person must be held accountable. However, the immaturity of a young person must be considered in meting out an appropriate punishment.
A person's brain must be fully developed before it can be discerned whether that individual will continue to offend or was just a child who make a horrible mistake.