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Iman Azeez, a high school senior, feared mass shootings and participated in a dual enrollment program to spend less time on campus. The CeaseFirePA Education Fund organized a forum where various stakeholders discussed gun violence and proposed solutions like limiting firearm access, extreme risk protection orders, and safe firearm storage. Despite Democratic efforts to pass gun safety laws in Pennsylvania, such as banning ghost guns and requiring background checks for long guns, the Republican-led Senate has not advanced these bills.
When Iman Azeez was a senior at a Bucks County high school, she feared a mass shooting and spent as little time as possible inside the building.
To avoid being on campus, the 2024 graduate joined Council Rock High School’s dual enrollment program, allowing her to take college courses and escape the high school environment she feared would become violent.
Like millions of students in the U.S. where gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teens, Azeez grew up with active shooter drills and frequent school shootings. Azeez, now a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh, felt that a gun attack was inevitable.
“In high school, I feared school shootings daily, mainly because my last name was early in the alphabet, and I sat closest to the door. I always had an escape plan,” Azeez said during a recent forum organized by the CeaseFirePA Education Fund.
The CeaseFirePA Education Fund organized the forum on Sept. 18, two weeks after a 14-year-old gunman killed two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school. During the event, educators, students, law enforcement, mental health specialists, and a Democratic state lawmaker discussed their experiences with gun violence and proposed solutions.
Participants advocated for limiting firearm access and supported preventive policies like extreme risk protection orders and safe firearm storage. Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania have pushed for these measures, while Republicans have largely opposed them.
Gun violence claimed 1,941 lives in Pennsylvania in 2022, with thousands more wounded annually.
After Democrats gained a majority in the state House in 2022, they worked to pass numerous gun safety bills. In 2023, the Democratic-led House passed legislation creating extreme risk protection orders to temporarily suspend firearm access for those deemed a threat. This bill is now in the Republican-led Senate.
Also in 2023, Democrats moved a safe firearm storage bill out of committee, though it has yet to reach the House floor for a vote.
The House also passed a bill repealing the exclusion of long guns from the state’s background check requirement and another banning ghost gun parts. Both bills remain in Senate committees.
State Sen. Lindsey Williams urged constituents during the CeaseFirePA event to call their state senators to push for action on these bills.
Republican lawmakers nationwide and in Pennsylvania have advocated for arming teachers in response to numerous school shootings since Columbine in 1999. However, educators have overwhelmingly opposed this, advocating to keep firearms out of schools.
“More guns won’t solve the problem,” said Kara Easly, a teacher in the Erie School District. “Teachers are trained to teach, not to kill.”
The Rev. Kate Harrigan, a teacher at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Harrisburg, agreed. “More guns make more trouble,” she said.
Mia Suaudeau, a junior at a Montgomery County high school, urged lawmakers to restrict gun access, saying arming teachers is “solving violence with more violence” and not addressing the root of the problem, which is easy access to firearms.
As mass shootings increase in the U.S., educators and students are calling for urgent action on gun safety legislation.
“No 6-year-old or teacher should fear coming to school,” Easly said.
The CeaseFirePA Education Fund is seeking input from parents for a school safety survey available at https://forms.gle/Rh6i86meCMJ99eLXA.
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