Today There Was a School Shooting at My University.

*Editor's note: This article was originally published to Substack on April 17th. It is an opinion piece, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Liberty Affair.

Late this morning I was composing an entirely different newsletter, but now I am composing this one. A newsletter in which I tell you that several of my peers and students, along with hundreds (thousands) of others, are still under a shelter in place order, waiting for the police to clear them out of their offices and classrooms.

Today at 12:02 pm I received this:

I had been waiting for this. I knew it was coming. We all did.

Anyone who lives in the United States, and especially those of us who work in education– we all wait for this. The active shooter notification. I wasn’t on campus, but many of my peers and students were. And are, on campus. In an interview, an Florida State University undergraduate student said it was good he’d trained for this his whole life. He urged people to take the trainings seriously.

In Florida, I can get a gun more easily than I can vote.

I can get a gun more easily than I can access affordable healthcare, or resources to support my mental health.

I can get a gun, but I can’t declare my gender identity on my driver’s license or passport.

In the United States, it is easier to get a gun than it is to vote.

Anyone can get a gun, but many women, nonbinary, and trans people cannot access proper gynecological or gender affirming healthcare.

Anyone can get a gun, but our maternal mortality rates are spiking, and many people cannot access abortions or birth control.

Anyone can get a gun, but legal immigrants and international students are under attack simply for existing.

Anyone can get a gun, but scientists are banned from researching anything that isn’t fully centered around white men.

Donald Trump’s response to this shooting was this:

"It's a shame. Horrible thing," Trump said. "Horrible that things like this take place, and we'll have more to say about it later."

It’s a shame.

Horrible thing.

Governor Ron DeSantis sent his thoughts and prayers.

Surely if the shooter is white, his problem will be all about mental health, and the crisis young (white) men are facing today.

But if the shooter is not white? If the shooter is an immigrant? They’ll be propped up to support fascist immigration policies, an example of terrorism.

Either way: no one does anything about guns.

One Florida State University Students posted a video while being evacuated.

The video was posted on a site owned by a man currently gutting federal funding and firing workers without cause. A man who was not elected as a government official, who seems to abide by no rules.

One Student, a junior, described seeing the shooter:

“I was leaving the union with my food. There’s a road next to it and I was walking and this guy pulls up in an orange Hummer, and he gets out with a rifle and shoots in my direction. There were a couple other kids near me,” Heeter said. “I think he was shooting and he missed. So he goes back into his car and grabs a pistol, then he turns and shoots the lady in front of him. That’s when I just started running.”

I just had classes yesterday, and some of my students were on campus today.

My students are, as a whole, brilliant and kind. Warm with one another. Friendly. They want to live in and create a supportive world.

But our administration? Our government? Makes this impossible.

This is not the first shooting at Florida State University.

There was another one in 2014.

Our current administration, and Donald Trump and his MAGA allies in particular, have been stoking hatred for over a decade. But this isn’t about a political divide. This isn’t about republicans and democrats.

This is about a broken system, eroded over decades by greed.

This is about gun lobbyists filling pockets with money– both republican and democrat.

Our system is broken. And I don’t know what else to say, except that I am fucking tired. But we all need to muster up the energy to do something big and ongoing. Something focused. Something real. And we need to do it now.

River Selby is a former firefighter and PhD candidate at Florida State University. Their memoir, HOTSHOT, is coming in August 2025 and available for pre-order: https://groveatlantic.com/book/hotshot/ You can also find them on Substack here.