On Tuesday, the Florida State House rejected the consideration of a bill to ban assault rifles. The motion, which called for the ban of the sale of assault rifles in Florida had failed to pass on a vote of 36-71. The bill was created in response to last weeks shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in which gunman Nikolas Cruz was able to kill 17 people in six minutes with an AR-15, a semi-automatic assault rifle. This issue has sparked controversy across the nation, in forms of staged protests and school walkouts. Some individuals, such as sophomore Matt McCullough, believe that passing such a bill would ultimately leave the problem largely unresolved.

“I don’t think that a ban of assault rifles will do anything to prevent mass shootings because there’s other ways to get a gun,” McCullough said. “If the bill had passed, people who shouldn’t be having guns would still get them illegally. The only real solution in my opinion is stricter gun control regulations, as that’s the most obvious way to filter out responsible people and wackos.”

Freshman Julien Wakim took a different stance on the issue.

“While I can see why people would be reluctant to ban assault rifles outright, I just don’t see any practical use for having one,” Wakim said. “There are more appropriate options for hunting and home defense, so the ability to purchase assault rifles legally kind of just asks for more mass shootings, and the problem will keep continuing unless we do something. Stricter gun control would be nice, but it hasn’t worked in the past and would eventually just interfere with responsible gun owners.”

By Mahmood Syed