Press Release

Former Parkland Students at FSU Demand Gov. DeSantis Change Stance on Age Limit Bill Following Campus Shooting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nearly 30 Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumni now at Florida State University say DeSantis-backed bill would be a “recklessly dangerous reversal of hard-won progress.”

TALLAHASSEE, FL, April 21, 2025 — On Monday, March for Our Lives led a group of 28 students in a letter to Governor Ron DeSantis demanding he reject attempts to roll back bipartisan gun safety protections passed after the Parkland shooting. The letter, which comes just days after a deadly shooting at Florida State University (FSU), is signed by over two dozen students who previously attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and now study at FSU.

The letter calls on Gov. DeSantis to change his position and publicly oppose legislation that would lower the minimum age to purchase firearms in Florida from 21 to 18. If passed, the legislation would reverse the heightened age limits that then-Governor Rick Scott signed into law. The students also called on the governor to reject deadly campus carry legislation and strengthen Florida’s safe storage laws.

“What we went through, we made it our mission to ensure this could never happen again,” said Logan Rubenstein, former MSD and current FSU student.

Jaclyn Corin, Executive Director and Co-Founder of March For Our Lives, added: “Despite everything we fought for in Florida in 2018, the same students who once hid from gunfire in Parkland are now sheltering in place at FSU. And yet, Governor DeSantis says nothing as lawmakers work to dismantle the very protections we helped put in place. These students lost friends, marched in the streets, and changed laws to save lives, only to be thrown back into the nightmare we swore would never happen again. How many more bodies will it take before DeSantis values student lives over gun lobby donations? His silence isn’t just cowardice; it’s a betrayal of every student in Florida.”

The Florida House has already passed legislation to lower the minimum age to purchase firearms, and while the bill has stalled in the Senate, the students forcefully condemn DeSantis for refusing to speak out against it. “For the Florida State Legislature to even consider reversing that law is as dangerous as it is unthinkable,” the letter states. “Rolling it back would dishonor the lives we lost in Parkland and Tallahassee, and amount to a slap in the face to survivors and to the countless lives that law has helped protect.” Their message to the governor is clear: “Your silence is not neutral.”

***READ THE FULL LETTER HERE***

The signatories embody the terrible failure of Florida’s leadership: students who survived or were impacted by the Parkland shooting, who helped change laws to prevent future tragedies, now finding themselves at the scene of another campus shooting just as those hard-won protections face dismantling. Their letter directly connects the governor’s inaction to the human toll of gun violence.

For more information about MFOL’s work, visit marchforourlives.org. To support our mission during this critical time, please donate at marchforourlives.org/donate.

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