WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Days after a deadly shooting on their campus, Florida State University students who also survived a mass shooting in Parkland in 2018 sent a letter Monday to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis demanding he squash efforts to lower the firearm purchase age back to 18 years old.
The law that raised the minimum gun purchase age to 21 was passed as part of a gun reform package following the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which was one of the deadliest shootings in the country. For these former Parkland and current FSU students who sent the letter to the governor, this is their second school shooting.
One of the founders for March For Our Lives, a group formed following the shooting in Parkland, led a group of 28 students in writing the letter, calling it “unthinkable” and “dangerous” for the Legislature to consider changing the gun purchase age to 18. Jaclyn Corin said many of the students who demanded action in 2018 after the Parkland shooting are now FSU students who experienced tragedy again.
“There is no doubt that that law has saved lives over the past seven years, and so now it’s quite ironic that this is the very law that is being threatened in the aftermath of what is many of those same students who rose their voices, their second school shooting,” Corin said.
DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have backed the measure, saying that if a person is old enough to be in the military, they should be able to purchase a gun.
Despite having support from Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, Senate President Ben Albritton has been more hesitant about the measure. In a conference with reporters in March, Albritton got emotional recounting his visit to the Parkland high school building where 17 people were killed. He said he is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, but that he has not made a decision on the measure.
Thursday's shooting at a university minutes away from the Florida Capitol may leave an uncertain future for the measure, since it has not yet been heard in the state Senate. The legislative session is scheduled to end next week.
“Rolling it back would dishonor the lives we lost in Parkland and Tallahassee, and amount to a slap in the face to survivors and to the countless lives that law has helped protect,” the letter sent Monday read. “It ignores the trauma we carry. And it sends a clear message to students: the state of Florida sees our lives as expendable.”
The shooter in Parkland was a 19-year-old. He is now serving life in prison.
On Thursday, a 20-year-old FSU student opened fire near the student union, using his deputy sheriff stepparent’s former service weapon. Two people were killed and six injured.
FILE - People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., Feb. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Florida Gov. Ron De Santis speaks during a press conference on immigration enforcement, at Homestead Air Force Base, Feb. 26, 2025, in Homestead, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - People comfort each other as they sit and mourn at one of seventeen crosses, Feb. 15, 2018, after a candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
