Guns

“Did you kill her?” that phrase just lingered in my head after listening to the 911 call that FSU students made on January 9, 2011 after 20 year-old Ashley Cowie was shot in the chest. In an off campus apartment owned by Florida State University, Evan Wilhelm was showing a friend some new accessories on his AK-47 style riffle when he accidently discharged. The bullet went right through his girlfriend, Ashley Cowie’s chest and wounded another student on the wrist. As a dispatcher for Public Safety at Miami Dade College and a student at Nova Southeastern University, I can only imagine what feels like to be the person to make the call and the person to pick up that call. During an emergency, people become nervous and loose all sense of rationality. During the phone call that the FSU students made that night, all you hear is panic and fear. Panic of not knowing what to do and fear that someone so close to them was dead. Ashley’s identical twin sister, Amy, saw her sister get shot and Ashley died in her hands. Investigation done shows that Evan Wilhelm was consuming alcohol and smoking marijuana earlier. Evan Wilhelm is now being charged with manslaughter.

Florida Senator Greg Evers is the main supporter of Bill 234 that will allow anyone with a concealed weapon permit to carry it out in the open as long as they have proper identification. This includes college campuses which mean classrooms, dormitories, and any kind of school event. Pertaining to college campuses, the purpose of this bill is for students to be able to defend themselves during an emergency. If the bill was to pass, any violators of this bill will be fined $25.00. Supported by the National Rifle Association, Senator Greg Evers argues that putting guns in the hands of trained individuals with the license to own a weapon, will be able to act accordingly during an emergency to avoid incidents such as the massacre that happened not so long ago in Virginia Tech. It happens to be that the shooting of...