Governor won’t say if he’ll sign gun bill
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Three weeks after the Parkland high school shooting, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has a guncontrol bill on his desk that challenges the National Rifle Association, but it falls short of what the Republican and survivors of the massacre demanded.
Scott has not said yet if he will sign the legislation, and he plans to take up the issue with relatives of those who were slain.
“I’m going to take the time and I’m going to read the bill and I’m going to talk to families,” he said.
State lawmakers officially delivered the reform package Thursday. The governor has 15 days to sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature.
Family members of the dead said they have been asked to meet with Scott as early as Friday.
The measure would raise the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21 and extend a threeday waiting period for handgun purchases to include long guns. It would also create a socalled guardian program enabling school employees and many teachers to carry handguns if they go through law enforcement training and their school districts agree to participate.
Other provisions would create new mental health programs for schools, establish an anonymous tip line where students and others could report threats to schools, ban bump stocks and improve communication between schools, law enforcement and state agencies.
Scott has received top marks from the NRA in the past for supporting gun-rights measures, but he broke with the lobbying group after last month’s slayings, calling for raising the minimum age to purchase any type of gun.
He does not support arming teachers. Instead, he wanted lawmakers to adopt his own $500 million proposal to put at least one law enforcement officer in every school.
The NRA opposes raising age limits to buy weapons or imposing new waiting periods. In a statement Thursday, NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida lobbyist Marion Hammer called the bill “a display of bullying and coercion” that would violate Second Amendment rights and punish law-abiding citizens.
Polls suggest voters in Florida want tougher restrictions than the bill offers. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted more than a week after the shootings said 62 percent support a nationwide ban on “assault weapons” and 96 percent support background checks on all gun buyers.