We need to take action to prevent gun violence in our communities

This has been an especially horrific few weeks when it comes to gun violence in America, even by the standard of a country that has one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the developed world.

In less than a month, we witnessed a racially motivated massacre at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, that killed 10 people; a devastating shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were murdered; a senseless attack at a medical building in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that left five dead; and many other deadly and traumatizing incidents of gun violence that didn’t make national news.

Unfortunately, here in Florida, we know all too well the pain and trauma these mass shootings cause. Today, June 12, is the six-year anniversary of the attack at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, one of the country’s deadliest mass shootings, in which 49 predominately gay and Latino people were murdered. And it’s been four years since 17 people — children and school employees — were killed by a shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

In 2018, our legislative leaders were shocked into action by the horror of these shootings and by the advocacy of Parkland families, Pulse survivors and activists who demanded change. In a remarkable show of bipartisanship, Florida’s Republican-led Legislature passed a package of gun safety measures that raised the age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, implemented a red-flag law to allow law enforcement to remove weapons in situations where a person may be a danger to themselves or others, and enacted a three-day waiting period for gun purchases. While these reforms have saved countless lives, there’s still more that must be done.

This week, the Florida Supreme Court will hear a challenge from local governments and my department to a draconian law that allows the state to punish municipalities for enacting gun safety measures. The local governments include Broward and Miami-Dade counties as well as the cities of Weston, Coral Springs, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and many others that support the right of local governments to pass local gun safety ordinances free from state interference.

The bottom line is that the state of Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis aims to prohibit and punish communities and local officials for trying to take action to keep their residents safe after enduring horrifying acts of gun violence. It’s petty, it’s nonsensical, and worst of all, it makes our state less safe.

I’m proud to fight alongside our cities, counties, local officials and gun violence prevention advocates against this ridiculous and spiteful law, which has already been found to be partially unconstitutional. But right now in Florida, we’re having the wrong conversations. Instead of talking about how to save lives and prevent active shooter terrorism, DeSantis is pushing a deranged permitless open carry policy allowing anyone to take a gun with them anywhere at any time. He just vetoed 83 positions I proposed for my department to thoroughly process concealed weapon licenses in a timely manner to keep Floridians safe. He’s spending taxpayer money to argue this case against us in court in hopes of scaring municipalities from taking action to prevent gun violence.

I’m a gun owner, and I have a concealed weapon license. I believe that there are reasonable steps we can take to make our communities safer that don’t infringe on the constitutional rights of responsible gun owners, like expanding background checks and red-flag laws, closing loopholes, background checks for ammunition purchases and banning large capacity magazines, and keeping assault weapons off our streets.

The courts need to strike down this dangerous preemption law, and we need to take action at the state and federal level to prevent any more lives lost to senseless gun violence.

The bottom line is that the state of Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis aims to prohibit and punish communities and local officials for trying to take action to keep their residents safe after enduring horrifying acts of gun violence.