Facing NRA heat, Corcoran slams assault weapons ban

TALLAHASSEE — Two days after being slammed by the National Rifle Association for pushing through a new law with gun control measures, House Speaker Richard Corcoran criticized efforts to put more gun control measures in the state constitution.

He wrote a letter last week to the Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years to propose amendments to the state’s governing charter.

“The Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms,’’ he wrote. “All firearm policies flow from that fundamental right and should remain policy matters for the Legislature.”

Corcoran helped pass SB 7026, which raised the minimum age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21, banned “bump stocks” and imposed a three-day waiting period for firearm purchases.

NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer sent an alert to members Monday slamming Corcoran for backing the bill and calling it a “victory” for the Second Amendment.

“Corcoran tried to justify his betrayal by claiming the provision in the bill to arm school employees makes it ‘one of the greatest Second Amendment victories we’ve ever had’ because it ends “gun free zones on school campuses,” she wrote. “That is complete nonsense and ignores the unconstitutional gun control included in the bill.”

The NRA has filed a federal lawsuit against the law, saying it violates the constitutional rights of 18- to 20-year-olds by preventing them from buying guns.

Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, is considering a bid for governor, and two potential foes in the GOP primary, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, have criticized the gun control measures in the bill. Lawmakers passed it in response to the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, in which 14 students and three faculty members were killed and 17 others hurt.

Also Wednesday, commissioner Roberto Martinez, a Miami lawyer, offered an amendment to include the new waiting period, age limit and bump stock ban in the constitution, but it was defeated on procedural grounds.

Another effort by former Democratic state Sen. Chris Smith to add an assault weapons ban also failed.