Gov. Rick Scott plans guns initiative:
Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he planned to meet with legislative leaders next week to discuss bills to make schools safe and keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
TALLAHASSEE — The mass shooting at a Parkland high school Wednesday that left 17 dead is prompting top Republicans in charge of the Legislature to push for more money for mental-health and school-safety programs, but they’re stopping short of supporting guncontrol measures pushed by Democrats.
Gov. Rick Scott spoke with House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron on Thursday about preventing those with mental illness from having access to guns, but no specific legislation has been put forward.
“This senseless act of evil is absolutely heartwrenching,” Scott said in a statement. “Our entire state is in mourning, and we have to make sure something like this never happens again. The violence must stop. We cannot lose another child in this country because of violence in our schools.”
He plans to have meetings with legislative leaders and law enforcement officials next week about improving school-safety measures and mentalhealth services.
But many activists, including Democrats, argue gun-control measures must be passed to prevent future mass shootings like the one in Parkland.
“We are heartbroken and saddened by what happened yesterday in Parkland, but we’re also mad as hell,” said Gay Valimont, Florida chapter leader of Moms Demand Action, a national gun-control advocacy group.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who was expelled from the school and made several disturbing social media posts, was arrested and charged with 17 counts of murder.
“What we need to do is pass red-flag legislation,” Valimont added. “This kid had a thousand red flags.”
Valimont and about 50 Moms Demand Action members delivered 5,000 petitions to Negron’s office Thursday, urging him to advance legislation that would share information on failed background checks with local law enforcement.
Negron, though, wants to increase funding for mental-health counseling and resource officers in schools, and make sure those with mental illnesses can’t obtain guns.
“What I am focusing on is making sure that people who have mental instabilities or have other mentalhealth issues, that they don’t have access to firearms,” Negron said.
Negron also noted the proposed Senate budget has $78.1 million for school safety measures, the main fund that pays for school resource officers, a $13.6 million increase on the current year. But that would only bring the state up to pre-recession funding levels. The House budget plan keeps the fund at $64.5 million, but Corcoran issued a statement on Twitter indicating he favors more funding.
Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, filed legislation last year after the Pulse nightclub attack left 49 dead and 53 wounded that would ban assault-weapon sales, and filed it again this year. It hasn’t received a hearing in either chamber.
“We all know what [Republican lawmakers’] solution is to the epidemic of gun violence – it’s more guns,” Smith said. “It’s guns everywhere, all the time.”
Even if Smith’s bill had passed last year, it wouldn’t have taken effect before Nikolas Cruz bought the AR-15 rifle he used in Parkland.
Other bills filed by Democrats to require mental-health screenings for applicants seeking a concealed weapons permit have not received a hearing this year.
Republicans, in charge of the Legislature for the last 22 years, have passed laws relaxing gun laws, sometimes aided by Democrats.
But since the Pulse nightclub attack in June 2016, Democrats and moderate Republicans have fought off efforts to pass bills allowing concealed weapons permit holders to carry weapons openly and on college campuses.
Other gun-rights bills to reduce penalties for inadvertently showing a firearm are still advancing in the Capitol, however.
grohrer@orlandosentinel .com or 850-222-5564