Report: State gun, mental laws couldn’t stop Parkland massacre

SUNRISE — Florida’s gun and mental health laws likely could not have prevented school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz from buyingthe semi-automatic rifle authorities say he used to kill 17 people even if they had applied to him, the state commission investigating the shooting learned Thursday.

Robin Sparkman, chief of the state’s Firearm Eligibility Bureau, told the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission that even if Cruz had been subjected to an involuntary, threeday mental health evaluation under a state law called the Baker Act, he still could have bought the AR-15 allegedly used in the Feb. 14 massacre.

Under state law before the shooting, only if Cruz, 19, had been adjudicated mentally ill by a judge or convicted of a felony would he have been ineligible to buy a gun. Cruz was never committed under the Baker Act, convicted of a crime or adjudicated mentally ill.

“So many people think the Baker Act is a magic wand — that the Baker Act cures and fixes all. The Baker Act doesn’t,” said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the commission’s chairman. “The Baker Act is a temporary custody status for assessment. Rarely does the Baker Act result in any treatment. People think that if Cruz had been Baker Acted that this wouldn’t have happened. That is flat-out erroneous.”

Under the Baker Act, Florida can involuntarily commit a person for a mental health evaluation for up to 72 hours — about 192,000 such commitments were made last year, about one for every 100 Florida residents.

It can be implemented if a police officer, judge, doctor or mental health official believes the person is mentally ill and is a near-term danger to themselves or others. Many are released within hours and anyone detained under the act must be released within three days unless they volunteer for treatment or a judge agrees the person needs to be committed.

Being evaluated under the Baker Act or volunteering for commitment does not make a person ineligible to buy or own a gun. School and law enforcement officials considered detaining Cruz under the Baker Act in 2016, but did not.

In February 2014, while in eighth grade, Cruz was transferred to a school for children with emotional and behavioral issues. He stayed until 10th grade, when he was transferred to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. He also received mental health counseling for years, but refused treatment after he turned 18.

About a year before the attack, Cruz was kicked out of the school after he harassed other students, had outbursts, fought and had numerous other issues. His mother called deputies about 20 times, but he was never arrested.

Gualtieri said after Cruz turned 18 in September 2016, he needed a state identification card to buy a gun. His mother, Lynda Cruz, helped him obtain the ID, even though counselors told her he should not be allowed to own a gun, Gualtieri said. He purchased the AR-15 in February 2017.

Three weeks after the massacre, Florida changed its gun laws, implementing a system where police departments and sheriff’s offices can petition a judge to block a person with suspected mental illnesses from buying and owning weapons for up to a year and then apply for extensions. It also increased the age limit for buying rifles and shotguns from 18 to 21 under most circumstances, matching the law for handguns.