SENATOR’S PLAN:
Marco Rubio proposes giving schools grants to add security and train teachers to identify threats.
To prevent another school shooting, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Thursday pushed proposals that include beefing up reporting of potentially violent students.
Rubio has drawn criticism for his opposition to gun control in the two weeks since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High that left 17 people dead.
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, Rubio backed away from discussing gun regulation, saying only that he’d be open to adjusting the age limit to buy guns as well as other reforms.
Rubio instead focused on talking about proposals he said have bipartisan support and could be passed immediately.
“These are ideas I outlined not just because they work, but because I believe we can get the votes to pass them,” said Rubio, a Republican.
Momentum is rising to make changes to gun laws after Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the Parkland school, carried out the attack Feb. 14.
The cornerstone to Rubio’s approach is the proposed Stop School Violence Act, which would give schools grants to add security and train teachers to identify threats.
The measure was originally introduced in January by Congressman John Rutherford, R-Fla.
As part of the act, the grants also would help fund threat assessment teams at the schools, where staff would work with police to flag students who could pose a threat.
Thursday, Rubio also endorsed:
An intervention program for students with behavioral problems, to allow teachers to report potential threats earlier.
A bill to enhance the information reported to a criminal background check system, which is used for gun sales.
A bill requiring the FBI to notify states when someone buys a gun that they failed a background check. A separate bill also would crack down on “straw sales,” or sales by people who buy a gun for someone who couldn’t pass a background check.
Rubio also reiterated his support for gun violence restraining orders, which would give law enforcement and family members the ability to get a court order to keep someone who could pose a threat from buying a gun, or take a gun away from them.
Rubio’s comments came after he participated in a televised CNN town hall last week, where he said he supports raising the minimum age to buy guns to 21 and banning “bump stocks” that allow rifles to fire more rapidly.
Robin Lloyd, director of government affairs for Giffords, a gun violence prevention group, was disappointed Rubio didn’t revisit the age limits and gun law reforms during the Senate speech Thursday.
“I really was encouraged and impressed about what he was able to say on these issues,” Lloyd said. “He needs to be having a stronger position and a leadership position that I just don’t think came across today.”
Students have criticized campaign contributions Rubio received from the National Rifle Association.
Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg, 14, who died in the shooting, confronted Rubio during the town hall over his opposition to gun control. Guttenberg said he wasn’t surprised by Rubio’s reluctance to discuss gun control Thursday.
“He represents the area of Parkland where this massacre just took place,” Guttenberg said, “and his interests are more with the lobby than those he represents.”
Guttenberg said he’s optimistic thanks to the reaction of others in the political and business community — “the reaction of others that they will make folks like Sen. Rubio irrelevant.”
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DWeston, said she thought Rubio was listening to NRA leaders and not residents and constituents. Though she said she agreed with most of the policies Rubio advocated, she said they weren’t enough.
“They’re not substitutes and shouldn’t be allowed to be a distraction for anything we need to do to prohibit assault-style weapons,” she said.