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UT Political Science chair speaks on FL school shooting

Those grieving are calling on Washington to make a change to ensure no other family has to go through what they are going through right now.

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - It has been two days since the high school shooting in Florida took the lives of 17 students and staff members.

Those grieving are calling on Washington to make a change to ensure no other family has to go through what they are going through right now.

Associate professor and chair of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration Dr. Sam Nelson from the University of Toledo says it's unclear at this time if the political will is there to make a change.

"This isn't the first mass shooting that we've had. It's not the first one we've had in the last year. We didn't see much reaction after, say, the Las Vegas shooting and other school shootings, so I don't know. This one could be different. It could be the accumulative affect of the number of shootings that we start to see some pressure build for something more than thoughts and prayers," Dr. Nelson said.

After this latest school shooting, political lines are being drawn between Republicans and Democrats over gun control and mental health. Dr. Nelson says finding a common ground between them is going to be difficult.

"Common ground is going to be tough in this issue. I think partisan lines are pretty clear. They've built up over the last ten or 12 years. In terms of elected officials, in terms of regular people, voters, citizens, there's strong support across the spectrum for a lot of different gun control reforms like universal background checks and so on. If we saw responsiveness from Congress, those should be easy to pass," Nelson said.

Nelson said at political positions change on gun control and other issues, there is a possibility that a change could slowly be made.

Listen to his full interview attached to this story.

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