Monday night, on the steps of the Jon B. Morgan Courthouse — where victims of crime like gun violence and their families go to get justice — Osceola County leaders held a Candlelight Vigil for the community, imploring for tougher gun protection laws, and to implore people that if they, “See something, say something!”
Kissimmee Cit y Commissioner Angela Eady hosted representatives from Osceola County NAACP, Kissimmee Police Department, Florida Rising, For Our Future Florida and Moms Demand Action, coming together to stand up against gun violence.
Kissimmee Police Sgt. Brandon Rush said gun violence doesn’t just affect our community, but it affects the whole nation, especially on the mental health front.
“The solutions are in making sure that people with mental health issues don’t obtain a firearm. Making sure that people with violent history don’t have access to firearms,” he said. “Most importantly, making sure that kids don’t have access to firearms. Last week, we had a four-year-old in Kissimmee obtain a firearm, and unfortunately, he killed himself by accident. These are things that are preventable.
“One nationwide campaign that has happened since September 11 is, if you see something, say something. That is one open thing that we strive for. You guys are the eyes and ears of this community.”
From Florida Rises, Rhonda Wallace spoke out against gun violence.
“Words cannot express the disappointment I’m having within our judicial system, creating more powerful legislature to keep our families safe,” she said. “The violence is not serving our community well. They need more accountability.”
But the loudest challenge for the community to speak up came from Eady, the vigil’s host.
“We need to reach out to our legislators. Let them know that we are advocating for laws to be passed, to keep out communities safe,” she said. “We need to reach out to every one of them. We need to stop getting together, and we need to come together, because this is getting ridiculous. When a fouryear- old can get access to a gun and the end result will be the loss of life, and there’s five adults just sitting around, that’s ridiculous. That’s uncalled for. That means that we are doing something wrong. Something is not right.”
Commissioner Eady also shared her perspective of the ‘constitutional carry’ bill making it’s way through the Legislature, which will, for the most part, eliminate the permitting process needed to carry a firearm in public.
“I think that will create a much bigger problem. When you can walk into your local Publix, and everybody will have guns on their hips, that’s a problem,” she said. “We don’t need to be living in fear. But we are at that state. Everyone is living in fear. To the majority of the people who support that type of behavior, they think the answer is to put a gun on their hip. That’s not the answer. We have got to do something about that. I lost a great nephew about four years ago due to gun violence.”
