TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Madalyn Propst, an Orlando teenager, started taking part in school shooter drills in kindergarten, mourned the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre when she was 10 and Thursday had her freshman year of college upended by a gunman’s rampage.

Now, the 19-year-old Florida State University freshman is urging Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature to do something to stem the deadly wave of gun violence that has become a recurring trauma for her generation.

“The time for thoughts and prayers has passed,” Propst said Tuesday in the Capitol’s rotunda. “It is time for policy and change because while thoughts and prayers can put a Band-Aid over a bullet wound, they will do nothing to stop the next bullet.”

Thursday’s mass shooting on FSU’s campus that killed two and injured six others happened about a mile away from the state Capitol building where the Florida House had recently voted to lower the age limit to buy a rifle from 21 to 18.

That bill would undo a gun control measure enacted in the aftermath of the 2018 Parkland school shooting that left 17 students and staff dead.

Propst, a Lake Brantley High School graduate, and three other Florida State University students called on lawmakers to keep gun regulations in place and consider other proposals they think would save lives. Propst is the president of the FSU College Democrats and spoke at the event along with Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell.

Efforts to loosen the state’s gun laws appeared to have stalled in the aftermath of Thursday’s shooting. State Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said Monday her Rules Committee won’t take up the House’s measure lowering the gun-buying age, effectively ending the bill’s path forward this session.

Other pro-gun measures have also failed to gain traction, including repealing the state’s red-flag law and lifting a prohibition on rapid-fire gun accessories called bump stocks. A Senate committee voted down a bill that would have allowed concealed weapons on college campuses.

The students said they want increased funding for mental health and active shooter training and more safe-storage regulations for guns. They also said locks on FSU classroom doors failed to work properly, leaving them dangerously exposed to the shooter, and the suspected gunman’s red flags were missed.

Amy Farnum-Patronis, an FSU spokeswoman, said in an email the university is reviewing its safety protocols, including locks.

The 20-year-old suspected gunman, Phoenix Ikner, a Florida State student and the stepson of a Leon County Sheriff’s deputy, was shot by officers and taken to the hospital.

Gun rights supporters said they don’t think gun control restrictions will make Florida’s campuses safer.

“Criminals, by definition, do not follow the law,” said Luis Valdes, Florida state director for Gun Owners of America. “Gun control does not deter them. It only disarms law-abiding citizens and leaves them defenseless.”

Andres Perez, an FSU student who graduated from Windermere High School, said he was in class Thursday when an alarm sounded warning the FSU campus of a shooter. He said he texted his loved ones — unsure if he’d ever see them again.

“Our generation deserves better,” said Perez, chapter president of the gun safety group Students Demand Action. “We deserve to feel safe in our schools, our communities, and we deserve a safe future.”

Natanel Mizrahi, an FSU senior from Sarasota, said he’ll never forget the look of dread on the face of a student who ran into his classroom fleeing the gunman. Twenty or more others rushed into the classroom, yelling that there was a shooter, he said.

They barricaded the door and waited, Mizrahi said.

“I called my mom and whispered in fear of being heard by anyone outside that I love her,” he said. “I really, truly thought that might have been the last time that I was going to speak to her.”

_____

©2025 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.