How Florida students resorted to chewing gum and pretending to be dead to survive a mass shooting—should this be the reality for young Americans?
A tragic mass shooting on the campus of Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee on Thursday left two dead and at least six others injured. While the horror of such incidents cannot be overstated, the true story of survival lies not just in the violence itself, but in the chilling lengths students had to go to in order to stay alive. In an unsettling display of creativity under duress, some students resorted to using chewing gum to cover windows, while others played dead to avoid the gunman’s wrath.
The FSU mass shooting is not an isolated event. It highlights a persistent and worsening epidemic of gun violence in the United States, one that continues to haunt young people every day. Yet, rather than addressing the root causes of these tragedies, society remains fixated on temporary measures, with students becoming experts in survival tactics in the face of an ongoing crisis.
A Life-or-Death Classroom Fix: Chewing Gum to Block Windows
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Florida State students had to think on their feet. Jeffrey LaFray, one of the students caught in the crossfire, recounted how his teacher quickly devised a plan to shield the classroom from view. With no tape to attach paper to the windows, students improvised using chewing gum. LaFray’s recounting of this moment is as surreal as it is horrifying—chewing gum, a common school supply, became their weapon of survival.
As LaFray shared with ABC’s Good Morning America, “The teacher was asking if any of us had tape to tape up some paper. And no one had tape, and so some of us, we just got out our gum and started chewing so we could stick some paper to the windows.”
But should this really be the level of ingenuity students are expected to display during what should be a normal class day? Why are these young people left to fend for their lives with nothing but gum, paper, and quick thinking? In a country where gun violence has become disturbingly frequent, these survival strategies are merely a symptom of the problem—not the solution.
The Grim Reality of Playing Dead: A Survivor’s Harrowing Account
Madison Askins, another student caught in the crossfire, had an even more disturbing method of survival. After being shot in the back, Askins collapsed, pretending to be dead in the hopes of escaping further injury or death. In a chilling recollection, she described how she fell to the ground, closed her eyes, and “played dead,” holding her breath to avoid detection. She stayed as still as possible, only taking short, cautious breaths when necessary.
Askins’ actions were driven by one simple but terrifying realization: any movement could invite another bullet. She heard the shooter reloading, telling the escaping students to “keep running.” For Askins, and countless others like her, playing dead was the only option left. This survival instinct, born out of desperation, is a reflection of the broken state of the U.S.’s response to gun violence. Why must a student, in the prime of their life, resort to such drastic measures just to survive a normal day at school?
The FSU Tragedy: A Snapshot of America’s Gun Violence Crisis
The shooting at FSU is yet another example of the horrifying frequency with which gun violence erupts on campuses across the United States. The 20-year-old suspect, Phoenix Ikner, son of a Leon County Sheriff’s deputy, allegedly used her firearm in the attack. This raises critical questions about the ease with which firearms, even those from law enforcement families, can end up in the wrong hands.
Following the shooting, law enforcement acted swiftly, shooting and apprehending the suspect after he failed to comply with police commands. However, this moment of justice doesn’t erase the chilling reality of the lockdown, the chaos, and the fear that enveloped the campus for nearly three hours. Once the lockdown was lifted, students were still advised to stay away from the scene, but the trauma of the day would linger far longer.
Is Gun Violence in Schools Becoming the New Normal?
The disturbing events at Florida State University exemplify a far larger issue—America’s growing epidemic of mass shootings. Schools, once seen as safe havens for learning and growth, are now battlegrounds where students must take extreme measures just to survive. The fact that these survival tactics—chewing gum, pretending to be dead—have become common knowledge is a damning indictment of a system that has failed to protect its youth.
Despite the mounting death toll and trauma experienced by students and families, discussions around meaningful gun control seem to stall. The focus on temporary fixes—such as school lockdowns, armed guards, or makeshift survival strategies—only distracts from the root cause: the unchecked access to firearms and the political paralysis that prevents significant reform.
Conclusion: Time to Move Beyond Survival Tactics to Real Change
While the ingenuity of students in the face of unspeakable violence is remarkable, it should never be their responsibility to survive a mass shooting. The reliance on ad hoc measures like chewing gum and playing dead highlights a grotesque reality—America has normalized a level of violence that forces children to think of survival strategies as part of their school routine.
The question we must ask ourselves is simple: Why should students be expected to outwit a deadly situation with such methods? The answer lies not in survival tactics, but in systemic change. It’s time for the U.S. to address the root causes of gun violence, to implement comprehensive gun control laws, and to ensure that no student ever has to face the terror of a mass shooting in the first place. Until we do, the tragedies will continue—and so will the need for students to devise ever more desperate ways to stay alive.