If you keep up with the news or even have any form of social media, you most certainly heard about the recent Florida school shooting. Before I start my article, I'd just like to extend my thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims, and I truly hope Nikolas Cruz rots in hell.
Every time a mass shooting happens, I'm afraid to go out in public. After Sandy Hook, I was afraid to go to school for days. After the Las Vegas massacre, I was afraid to even leave my dorm building on my college campus that just happens to be in an extremely safe town in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. Things calmed down, I went on with my life, though vaguely fearing a tragic death every day....then the Florida shooting happened.
Something about the Florida shooting made me realize how unsafe my campus actually is. You do not need an ID to get into any of the buildings beside the residence halls, but even then you can easily follow a group of students into a residence hall. Anyone can walk onto my college campus since it is a public college and a public campus...someone with a gun can walk onto my campus, into an academic building, into our dining hall, or into a residence hall. Very easily.
My school can get shot up at any time of any day and we have minimal campus security. Thank god this is a safe town, that means nothing like that could EVER happen here, right? Wrong. Even in the safest of places can the deadliest incidents happen. I don't want to fear not coming back from my classes one day. I don't want the fear of having to call my mom to tell her there is an active shooter on my college campus. I don't want to fear for my life anymore. When can I stop being afraid to go in public?