The state Legislature’s Parkland response splits both major parties, making it harder to secure the votes needed to pass the bill in the session’s final week.

Some Democrats, Republicans object to parts of measure

TALLAHASSEE — The Legislature’s response to the shooting at a Parkland high school is splitting both major political parties, making it harder for the GOP leadership to find the votes needed to pass the measure in the session’s final week.

Black lawmakers, who make up 20 of the 41 Democrats in the House and seven of the 15 Democrats in the Senate, say they’ll vote against the gun- and school-safety package because it includes a “marshal” program to train and arm teachers.

“That marshal program means something completely different in my community than it does in Parkland,” said Rep. Bobby DuBose, D-Fort Lauderdale. “We have a very different history when it comes to guns and police where we’re treated differently because of the color of our skin.”

But the “marshal” program is key to getting Republican support for a bill that includes some of the gun control measures Democrats have advocated for years. The bill bans “bump stocks” used to modify semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly, increases from 18 to 21 the age limit for buying rifles and imposes a three-day waiting period for gun purchases.

“This is a compromise bill that has been put together, but the politics around it are toxic,” said Rep. Jose Oliva, RMiami, sponsor of the House version of the measure.

Parents and students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 people Feb. 14, have rallied for more aggressive gun control measures, such as a ban on assault-style weapons and a cap on magazine sizes. Republicans, though, have voted down Democratic amendments to add the weapons ban.

Republicans also are facing pressure from Second Amendment rights groups such as the National Rifle Association, which is urging its members to flood lawmakers’ inboxes urging them to strip the gun control measures.

“Take the marshal plan out, and the votes don’t exist to