Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
The nation in brief
Don’t be ‘afraid’ of NRA, president tells governors
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You don’t know until you’re tested, but I think I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon, and I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too.”
President Donald Trump, claiming he would have rushed the gunman who killed 17 people in a Florida school shooting
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will take action to end the sale of socalled “bump stocks” rather than wait to see if Congress does so.
Congress should act, he said, but added: “I don’t care if Congress does it. I’m writing it out myself, OK?”
“We’re getting rid of it,” he said. “You put it into the machine-gun category, which is what it is.”
Trump’s comments about the devices that can turn legal semi-automatic long guns into virtual machine guns came in remarks to a group of governors gathered at the White House. He had said their top priority would be to discuss school security after the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 dead.
The Parkland shooter apparently didn’t use a bump stock, but the shooter who killed 58 concertgoers in Las Vegas in October did. At that time Trump had said he could support regulations against bump stocks, but his administration took no action. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has said it doesn’t have authority to regulate bump stocks without Congress passing a law to empower the agency.
Trump also told the governors that if he’d been at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, he would have rushed the gunman.
“You don’t know until you’re tested, but I think I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon, and I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too.” Trump said.
Many of Trump’s ideas have fallen flat with Congress.
“You guys, half of you are so afraid of the NRA,” he said at the governors’ meeting. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. And you know what? If they’re not with you, we have to fight them every once in a while. That’s OK.”
Senate legislation that would enhance reporting to the gun-buyers background check system hit a roadblock on Monday, as at least one senator, Republican Mike Lee of Utah, acted to block expedited consideration of a bipartisan bill to close gaps in criminal records covered by federal background checks, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Still, John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican and chief sponsor of the bill to bolster the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, said he was working with colleagues to move ahead and that a vote could be held as early as this week if every senator can agree.
“I think that is in the realm of possibility,” he said. “It would take consent, and that’s the challenge.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that if all Congress can accomplish is passage of that bill, “it would be an abject failure and a dereliction of our duty.”
At a minimum, Congress should approve universal background checks, Schumer said, denouncing “NRA-backed bills that make Republicans feel better without meaningfully addressing the issue of gun safety.”
Also on Monday, 156 House Democrats signed on to a new bill that would restore and build on the expired ban on “assault weapons.”
The legislation, introduced by Reps. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Ted Deutch, D-Fla. — whose district includes Parkland — gained support over the weekend as most Democrats were at home in their districts.
LIMITS ON BUMP STOCKS
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who participated in Monday’s meeting with Trump, said he liked what he heard.
“I was impressed with the president’s commitment to find solutions and to give our next generation more confidence and safety and to not let a Florida incident happen in our future,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said he supports closer scrutiny of bump stocks.
“The premise on the bump stocks is that it is unlawful to have an automatic weapon unless you have a special license for it, and the bump stock converts a semi-automatic to an automatic in practicality and so that’s the president’s theory,” Hutchinson said. “He’s directed ATF to develop regulations to stop that. I support the president’s direction to the attorney general to look at that from a regulatory standpoint.”
The Arkansas official said he doesn’t support raising the minimum age for certain gun purchases to age 21.
“Most of the attacks on schools have been done by those that are older. So I’m looking for more long-term solutions and those that will actually be effective in protecting our students in the classroom,” he said.
The governor plans to make an announcement about school safety and security on Thursday.
Other governors’ reactions were mixed.
Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state pushed back on the president’s proposal to protect students by allowing trained teachers to carry concealed weapons in schools.
“I’ve listened to the firstgrade teachers that don’t want to be pistol-packing first-grade teachers,” Inslee said. “I just suggest we need a little less tweeting here and a little more listening. And let’s just take that off the table and move forward.”
Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada, a Republican and chairman of the National Governors Association, said the governors were impressed with Trump.
Noting that he leads the state that last year endured the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history, Sandoval added that the governors shared the urgency. “There’s a consensus that something needs to be done.”
DEPUTY ‘CHOKED’
Trump renewed his criticism of former Broward County sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson, though Peterson’s lawyer said in Florida that accusations that he acted unprofessionally and cowardly during the shooting are untrue.
“Look what he did in Broward where he thought he was probably a brave guy, but he wasn’t a brave guy under pressure,” the president said. “He choked and other people choked. A lot of people choked in that case.”
Lawyer Joseph DiRuzzo said Monday that the school resource officer didn’t enter the high school because it sounded like the shooting was happening outside the building.
Peterson’s attorney, issuing his first public statement about the attack, said it was “patently untrue” that the deputy failed to meet sheriff’s department standards or acted with cowardice at the scene of the assault. He resigned after Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said he felt sick to his stomach over his deputy’s failure to intervene.
The sheriff’s account of Peterson’s actions that day was a “gross oversimplification” of the events, the attorney said.
The sheriff’s office declined to comment, explaining that Peterson’s conduct is being investigated by its internal affairs division. Under state law, the agency is prohibited from discussing the matter until that investigation has concluded.
Authorities have faced intensifying questions about their response to the shooting as well as how they handled tips and warnings about the suspected shooter’s potential for violence before the attack. Officials had received a number of alarming warnings over the years, including at least four that linked Nikolas Cruz to a possible school shooting.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s office has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the police response, and the agency confirmed it would begin the probe immediately.
FLORIDA BILL
Also in Florida, a state Senate committee approved a bill Monday to raise the age for buying a gun from 18 to 21 and impose a three-day
waiting period for all gun purchases. The bill also would allow teachers to carry guns in schools if their school district approves and the teachers undergo law enforcement training and are deputized by the local sheriff’s office.
About 300 gun-safety advocates packed the room and dozens pleaded with senators to include an assault weapons ban in the bill. That idea was rejected on a 6-7 vote.
Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky told the Senate Rules Committee that many in her community wanted more than the bill now being considered, but it least it is more than what the state currently has.
“I can tell you from my friends who’ve just buried their children, they want action. If it’s not perfect, it’s not perfect, but make it a first step in a longer discussion. Something has to change,” she said. “We all want to make sure this never happens again.”
Elsewhere, a wounded student who has undergone three surgeries and still has bullet fragments in her body thanked the doctors and first responders for helping her make what she says will be a full recovery.
Maddy Wilford, 17, said at a hospital news conference that it’s times “like these when I know that we need to stick together.”
Rescuers thought Wilford was dead when they first found her inside the school. She was pale and unresponsive, bleeding heavily from bullet wounds to her chest, abdomen and arm. A fire-rescue lieutenant was under orders to take her to a hospital 30 miles away but made what doctors called a life-saving decision to take her instead to a hospital less than 10 miles away that had practiced an active shooter drill months earlier.
“She’s very lucky,” said Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, medical director of trauma services at Broward Health North.