Emma González is getting to know some of the people who knew about her before she arrived on the campus of the New College of Florida this semester.
The freshman rose to national prominence earlier this year as one of the students who became a vocal advocate of gun control following the deaths of 17 of her classmates and staff in February at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
In her first weeks on campus, she has found the New College community to be very accepting and classmates to be “kind and understanding.”
“A lot of people here feel like it’s weird that they know about me without me having gotten to know about them,” says González. “So they generally have just been like, ‘Hi, I’m so and so, I’m really inspired by what you’ve done. Also I’m majoring in this, what about you?’ so that it’s not awkward for me, either.”
And regardless of how someone feels about the issue of guns on school property, she says, “having calm and level-headed discussions with people who disagree with you is a very good way to show them that it’s a subject you care about without getting rude or profane.”
The issue of guns on college campuses looms large as differing groups seek to find a balance between First Amendment free speech rights and the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
There have been more than 30 shootings occurring on school properties in the U.S. so far in 2018, from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February to the Santa Fe High School shooting in May, where individuals have used firearms such as shotguns and AR-15’s during shootings.
