ORLANDO, Fla. — Since the shooting at Parkland High School, Florida elected leaders have pledged to implement aggressive measures, making the state a “blueprint” to prevent mass shootings.
Their advocacy and legislative work was on display at the Florida National Summit, the first Florida National Summit on School Safety. There, law enforcement agencies and school staff from 20 different states met with one goal to share best practices for school safety.
Fox News Digital spoke with Ryan Petty, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Alaina in a 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Petty shared how Florida prevents mass shootings and other states can learn.
“Every year there was a school safety bill from the tragedy in the park,” he said. “So we have a lot here in Florida and wanted to share that blueprint with other countries, so we invited states across the country to come.
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On February 13th, 2021, Marjorie Stone Mandouglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (Matias J. Ochner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service
Ryan Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter Alana was killed in the 2018 Parkland High School shooting, told Fox News Digital, “The way we protect schools in our country will track JD Vance much closer than what Tim Waltz said.” (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Alaina Petty was one of 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. Nicholas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at the school, opened fire on students and staff, killing 17 people and injuring 17 people. The victims included 14 students and three staff members.
“They say time heals all the wounds, but that's seven years, and that's the first thing I think about in the morning when I wake up, and the last thing I think about before I fall asleep,” he said.
“This is why this mission is so important. I know my daughter, Alana, is proud to advocate for being protected from dangers that I didn't understand,” he said.
The National Summit on School Safety in Florida highlighted how the state worked to improve school safety after killing 17 following the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018. (Sarah Rumpf-Whitten/Fox News Digital)
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. highlighted how USSS's research into “leaks” or warning signs prior to mass shootings has been noted.
“The tragedy in Parkland is an example of where everything went wrong and where there were multiple institutional failures beforehand,” he told Fox News Digital. “There were many leaks because this could have been stopped in front of me, so it completely failed, and we were able to learn from the incident.
“And we have evolved into threat management, not just these preemptive measures with threat assessments. We take students into that process and we are monitoring them to make sure that they are served to avoid the crisis,” he said.
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He shared that Florida officials “strengthened” the schools by creating a single point of entry, updating technology, and having police or additional parents trained to prevent shootings on campus.
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Diaz said there has always been a critical point in past mass shootings across the United States.
“I know that all these shots have leaked, but we have the ability to prevent them even after everything else fails,” he said.
A memorial is being constructed outside Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty members were killed in a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, on February 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerard Herbert, File)
Utah took notes on how Florida rose from the Parkland tragedy. Matt Pennington, Utah security director for the Public Safety Agency, said they “parallel” Florida law.
Pennington told Fox News Digital that Utah legislative bodies are taking aggressive steps to prevent the tragedy before it happens.
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“Some of the parents in Parkland came to the legislative meeting and spoke to lawmakers about their experiences, their impact and how it affected their lives,” he said. “And it was a real victim and they drove it home when some kids came when they lost their lives due to school violence.
“It's really important to get ahead of this in Utah and hopefully not to get attacked.”
