Parkland shooting victims' families led US Education Secretary on tour of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
PARKLAND - U.S. Congressman Jared Moskowitz and Parkland victims' families led U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly on a guided visitation of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Monday.
The 1200 building where the shooting took place on February 14, 2018, in which 17 people were killed and 17 others were injured has remained untouched. Those on the tour witnessed the blood-stained walls with bullet holes, shattered glass, opened computers and notebooks, and unopened boxes of Valentine's Day candy.
Moskowitz is on a mission to get as many lawmakers and educators as possible to see the time capsule of horror to spark a conversation about change on the national level.
Debbie Hixon said as hard as it is to keep coming back to the building, you can't make a change unless you show up to the table.
For the third time, she walked through the building where her husband Chris was murdered.
"It definitely takes talking yourself into walking through it again. But you can't have a voice at the table if you don't show up. And, you know, to honor Chris' legacy and the legacy of the other 16 people who were stolen from us here. If we can make a difference then you just have to work through it and show up," said Hixon.
Chris Hixon was the athletic director and a wrestling coach at the school. He ran toward the sounds of gunshots unarmed when the shooting started.
"Every time you go you think of different things and you put yourself into what was going through his mind, and what that looks like. A lot of people that haven't seen the video don't realize that after Chris was shot point-blank in the chest three times, he spent seven minutes trying to get up and go after the shooter," said Hixon.
She said she is trying to continue Chris' heroic legacy so that the failures of February 14th, 2018 do not continue.
"Responsible firearm ownership and what that looks like, access to weapons, but really I think the idea of the walkthrough is just as I said, to do a national standard on what the infrastructure of schools should look like. That doors should be solid, that they should have automatic locking doors, that there should be bulletproof or heavy weather windows, and that there should be cinderblocks, not drywall that's there for the schools," she said.
Moskowitz is hopeful that a national red flag law can be passed. Red flag laws allow law enforcement to remove an individual's firearms if it's believed they pose a threat to someone or themselves. Moskowitz said Florida's red flag law is supported by sheriffs statewide and believes it would be supported by Republicans in Washington.
The 1200 building is set to be demolished sometime this summer.
