Florida Legislature backs new gun restrictions after Parkland shooting
Bill imposes waiting period for purchases
Florida lawmakers defied the National Rifle Association on Wednesday to pass new firearms regulations and create a program for arming some school employees in a rare act of Republican compromise on the divisive issue of gun violence.
The response to the slayings at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., signaled a major shift for a state known as a legal laboratory for gun rights activists. It could become a blueprint for other states looking at new measures to address mass shootings.
A bipartisan vote of 67-50 in the state House ended an emotional three-week process, in which the state’s legislative leadership toured the bloodstained hallways at the high school, and thousands of students marched on the state capital in Tallahassee to demand change.
After weeks of debate, lawmakers approved a bill — which is supported by the victims’ families — that would impose a three-day waiting period for most purchases of long guns and raise the minimum age for purchasing those weapons to 21. The legislation also includes millions of dollars to improve school security and train and arm school employees.
Democratic Rep. Kristin Jacobs said she did not like the idea of arming teachers, but she voted yes. Republican Rep. Jay Fant said raising the minimum age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21 was unconstitutional, and he voted no. The action comes as federal efforts to further regulate guns and improve the federal background check system have sputtered in Washington, caught up in the formidable political divide that has undermined previous attempts to tighten rules for firearms.
The U.S. Senate has not scheduled any debate on gun legislation, with a noncontroversial bill on background checks stalled. The House of Representatives is only planning a vote next week on a new grant program to educate teachers and students about how to identify and intervene when school violence breaks out.
President Donald Trump, who plans to meet with leaders of the video game industry Thursday, has not put forward his own school safety proposal, after initially saying he supported arming teachers, raising the age for some purchases and even removing guns from people deemed dangerous before a judicial review.
Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who supports most but not all of the provisions in the Florida bill, reiterated his opposition to arming teachers Wednesday, but stopped short of threatening a veto, saying he’ll review the legislation “line by line.”
In addition to the waiting period and an increase in the minimum age, the bill also would ban the possession or sale of bump stocks, which can make guns shoot with the speed of an automatic weapons.
Bump stocks were not used in the Feb. 14 killings. However, they were used in the mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert last October that killed 58 people.
Florida lawmakers decided on a broad spectrum of measures to respond to the shooting, including money to raze and rebuild the school building where the shooting occurred, funds for a memorial to the 17 killed and money for an investigation into potential law enforcement failures around the Douglas attack.
State law enforcement would get new powers to temporarily remove weapons from people deemed to be a risk, and there would be a new judicial process to remove guns and ammunition from people deemed a threat to themselves or others.
These so-called “risk protection orders” have become a top-tier priority for gun control lobbyists, and lawmakers in 30 states have introduced or plan bills to give judges greater powers to remove guns.
The Florida bill also provides nearly $100 million to improve school security and $67 million to fund a new sheriff program that would allow school districts to voluntarily train and arm employees who do not exclusively teach in the classroom. These new “school marshals” would have to pass 132 hours of law enforcement training, a background check and additional diversity training.
The bill instructs state law enforcement to set up a new mobile app that would allow members of the public, including students, to anonymously report dangerous threats, and it funds additional school mental health services and security officers. There are also funds for a $1 million memorial to those lost in the shooting.
The state Senate passed the measure on Monday, with three Democrats joining 17 Republicans to vote yes. Democrats in both houses expressed concern with the bill because it lacked an assault weapons ban and armed school personnel, a measure that was especially concerning to black lawmakers who cited studies that show racial discrimination in school discipline.
In the days leading up to the vote, the NRA’s Florida lobbyist Marion Hammer issued an “emergency alert” to members asking them to contact Republicans and demand they vote no.
But Republican leadership did not bend.
While lawmakers were finishing the debate in Tallahassee, a grand jury in Broward County Wednesday indicted the 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz on 17 counts of firstdegree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder for the shooting at Douglas.