By Joshua Phelps
The Scene staff
Many Forest Park students, faculty and staff want stricter gun control in light of the recent Florida school shooting, according a random survey conducted by The Scene on campus.
Education major Lynette Farmer, 35, doesn’t think people with mental illness should be allowed to own firearms.
“I’m not saying guns don’t protect people,” she said. “But you’re getting guns in the hands of the wrong people who don’t have the mind frame to know what to do with it. I’m just sick of kids getting killed.”
Counselor Taylor Jones expressed a similar opinion.
“I would want regulations on guns for the people who more than likely should not have guns,” she said. “You should not have them in the house, church, that sort of thing.”
Computer science major Austin Vanfleet, 19, is less tolerant when it comes to gun ownership.
“Only cops should have them and nobody else,” he said.
Eve Fonseca, a professor who teaches English as a second language, agrees with Vanfleet. She doesn’t like the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms.
“If I were queen, we would get rid of guns,” she said. “Whatever can be done, in terms of compromise with those on the other side … I think we have to compromise and get done whatever can get done.”
Gun-control issues have dominated national news since Feb. 14, when 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Douglas students organized an international protest called March for Our Lives on March 24.
One of them, Emma Gonzalez, also founded the #NeverAgain movement. At a rally in Washington, D.C., she spoke and stayed silent for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, which was how long Cruz’s rampage lasted.
“The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest,” Gonzalez said. “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”
Jones believes students have a right to protest gun violence, but she also supports the right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms.
“Personally, I’m all for being protected,” she said.
Colton Creason, 27, a computer science major at Forest Park, calls the gun-control movement “necessary.”
“I think it’s good, especially when you compare us to other countries,” he said.
Fitness instructor Shanequa Tolliver supported the March for Our Lives, saying it drew attention to gun violence and helped educate those who may not be aware of it.
“People who did not have a voice or did not want to speak on it … They’re becoming more open to the fact that it’s easy for people to purchase these types of weapons,” she said.
Tolliver described watching a video on Facebook that showed a teenager going into a gas station and not being able to buy lottery tickets, alcohol or cigarettes. But a pawn shop sold him a firearm.
“Anyone can purchase a gun,” Tolliver said. “Nobody is regulating it.”
Trong Luu, 29, an international student from Vietnam, also weighed in on the U.S. gun-control debate.
In his country, civilians aren’t allowed to own firearms other than shotguns, and those are strictly regulated.
“I like my country more,” said Luu, a health-care administration major. “Because the people (who own guns) are police or maybe the ambulance. They have the right to own a gun.”
Gosia Moll, an adjunct faculty member who teaches English as a second language, said her native Poland also has stricter gun laws than the United States.
To own a firearm in Poland, a person must pass a background check and not have a criminal record. He or she also must take a psychological test and provide a valid reason for owning a gun.
“I know (U.S. gun ownership is) deep in the history, but they should really control who owns the guns,” Moll said.