Post-Pulse push for gun reform hits a wall
Despite calls, no new laws over a year later
Christine Leinonen stood before the Democratic National Convention in 2016 and joined a growing demand for “common-sense gun policy” after the death of her son, Christopher “Drew” Leinonen, in the Pulse nightclub shooting.
But more than one year later, calls for tougher gun laws have gone nowhere in Washington or Tallahassee.
The reasons behind that include the election of strongly pro-gun President Donald Trump and a Republican Congress as well as the rise of a progressive movement looking to reach out to working-class voters, many of whom are inclined to support gun rights as they are.
“For a lot of progressive candidates, they still care about gun-control issues, but there are so many other issues important in the age of Donald Trump,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida.
The lack of new gun laws after Pulse echoes what hap-
pened following earlier massacres, such as the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults were killed. A push then by President Barack Obama for new gun-control measures led to nothing.
And the shooting of a Republican congressman on a baseball field in June was largely met with silence on the gun-control front.
Christine Leinonen, who called gun violence an “epidemic,” said she was disappointed, but she understood why it was happening.
“I’m still a gun-safety advocate,” Christine Leinonen said. “That’s what I’ll always be. … [But] the trend is just logical. [Democrats] have to focus on the things they perceive as making them more electable. If elected, even if the primary message is economics, I can tell you they’re in favor of gun safety.”
Freshman state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said, “Any candidate, any politician needs to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. … You can address pocketbook issues for everyday Americans and [also] address why you want to keep families safe from violence.”
Smith, a former Bernie Sanders supporter from the progressive wing of the party, introduced three gun reform bills this past legislative session, including a ban on many assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. All the bills died in committee, but Smith pointed out that a number of Republican gun bills, including allowing open carry of firearms as well as guns on college campuses, also failed.
Jason Lindsay, founder and executive director of the Orlando-based Pride Fund to End Gun Violence, said gun control can continue to resonate.
The Pride Fund PAC, formed after the Pulse massacre to elect pro-LGBTQ candidates who support gun reforms, “actively support candidates willing to be courageous and talk about these issues even if it’s difficult. If you continue to talk about gun violence and take on the gun lobby [during a campaign], we know in office you’ll really stand with us.”
As the 2018 races approach, many Democratic candidates and officeholders in Florida still back a ban on assault weapons — a key part of Hillary Clinton’s platform in 2016 and supported by 52 percent of Central Floridians in a MasonDixon poll six months after Pulse.
Former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, who is running for governor, issued a plan on gun reform on the anniversary of the Pulse shootings in June, including a ban on large-capacity magazines. A spokesman added Wednesday she is also in favor of a ban on military-style assault weapons.
Winter Park businessman Chris King and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, two other Democrats in the race for governor, also support an assault weapons ban, as do U.S. Reps. Val Demings, Stephanie Murphy and Darren Soto.
But for many Democrats, the focus is more on what former Michigan state trooper Christine Leinonen called “common sense” gun reforms, such as universal background checks and closing the gun show loophole, measures that usually have broad support among all demographics and partisans.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, the only major GOP candidate for governor so far, is “a champion and a staunch defender of our Second Amendment rights,” spokeswoman Amanda Bevis said.
Referring to a tweet in which he called himself an “NRA Sellout,” she said, “If the media is going to call him an NRA sellout for his efforts to fight for our Second Amendment rights, then he’ll wear that badge proudly.”
The NRA did not respond to requests for comment.
Christine Leinonen compared gun reform with gay marriage — a once politically unthinkable option that arrived much more quickly than expected. She recalled telling her young son a few years ago that he might be able to get married by the time he was 50. It became legal nationwide just a few years later.
“We’ll find out in two years, four years, eight years, and we’ll see if the tide turns,” she said. “It’s eventually going to turn. It has to.”