By Cassidy Johnson
On February 14th, America was rocked again to its core by an individual and his gun. This is not the first time this has happened, and it certainly will not be last. Nevertheless, there was something different about the Parkland, FL, school shooting. There is something else, something new about this one. We can all feel it.
Maybe it was the fact that they were teenagers. Maybe it was the fact that their trauma forbade them to be silent. Maybe it was the fact that adults are rarely moved by other adults and are dumbfounded in the face of well-spoken teenagers. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School bears a striking resemblance to Apopka High School. Students here undoubtedly identified with those whose lives will never be the same. Following this 
eerie mass shooting, I interviewed fellow students at Apopka about school safety, Apopka’s safety in particular, and what they feel should be done.
The current safety procedures of Apopka High School are for students to move away from all doors and windows to where an intruder could not see them, and to arm themselves with whatever is available in the classroom. Freshman, Viktor Caraballo, feels that these measures “would work to a certain extent but . . . There should be another measure in place to make us feel safer. [A school shooting] shouldn’t even be able to happen in the first place.” On the other hand, freshman, Devon Daniels, said, “I feel like that’s actually the right call because you never know, at any given time, somebody can walk in and just do anything, so why not have something that can protect us.”
The federal government. Always extending their thoughts and prayers to victims, families, and communities. 
Always a lot of talk, suppositions, and propositions. It’s not just the Parkland students, but ones here too that are unmoved by words in the place of action. The overwhelming majority of Apopka kids I interviewed wanted to see real action taken and/or legislation passed by Congress. Junior, Darius Knight, says, “I feel like the federal government is going to use this as a playing card in a big game on each side trying to get their way. I don’t think that they are doing enough, but I also don’t know what they can do. The issue is more complex than people give it credit for.”
When discussing school safety, which is only a fraction of the current national conversation, we cannot ignore a root factor in the entire debate. Senior, Emma Treadwell put it perfectly when posed with the question of why America is the only industrialized country that has a problem with mass shootings. “I think the 2nd Amendment is definitely a contributing factor. Many Americans see guns as symbolic of all their rights and what it truly means to be an American rather than something that has consistently caused mass destruction in our country. This oftentimes causes them to overlook considerations for their fellow citizens’ safety in order to strictly adhere to the Constitution.”
I’ll say it again; there is no denying it. The atmosphere of the conversation has changed. Perhaps real, effective change is on the horizon. Perhaps those 17 lost souls will lend themselves to it. Nevertheless, until this madness ends America’s youth must face the fact that the classroom is not 100% secure. “America the beautiful,” alright.