INDIANAPOLIS -- A political science professor and lifelong member of the NRA is calling for reforms in the wake of the Florida school shooting, where 17 people died.
Pierre Atlas, a professor at Marian University, wrote a column in the Indianapolis Star, advocating universal background checks, mandatory reporting of stolen guns, prohibiting gun purchases for people on the no-fly list, and allowing the Centers for Disease Control to collect and analyze gun violence data.
"If people who don't want gun control are unwilling to make reasonable legislation to try and address this very serious problem, not only are they gonna be left behind, the NRA is gonna be irrelevant in 20 years," Atlas said. "If a tree isn't gonna bend, it is gonna break in a hurricane, and a hurricane is coming."
As students in Florida have called for action, so have students in Indiana.
Grace Brenner, 15, is a leader at University High School in Carmel, where students plan a 17-minute walkout on March 14. The 17 minutes represent the 17 killed in the shooting.
"It could get more people inspired to start doing something about this," Brenner said. "We have voices. You might not feel you have a voice, but you do. This walk can make you feel like you have a voice even though you don't you do."
At Herron High School in Indianapolis, students are also motivated. In May, Senior Class President Eugena King will turn 18, and she will vote.
"I do plan on taking a closer look at the people I'm voting for, and not just voting one way straight, another way," King said. "Looking at the things these people back -- the things they voted for in the past rather than voting blindly."
