Dems. want gun control on table in state review

Democrats want an assault weapons ban and expanded background checks to be on the table during the Florida Senate’s upcoming review of mass shootings and white nationalism.

Senate President Bill Galvano called for the review last week after back-to-back mass shootings in Texas and Ohio claimed 31 lives.

But the Bradenton Republican didn’t offer specific proposals that would be examined.

Senate Democratic Leader Audrey Gibson sent a letter to Galvano on Wednesday asking for her party’s gun control agenda to be considered.

Democrats have filed bills that would ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines and assault weapons and require background checks for private gun sales. Those measures haven’t gotten a hearing in the Republicancontrolled Legislature.

“[S]hould we continue to fail to give these bills the thorough consideration they deserve, we continue to risk the lives of every family, every child — every Floridian — who looks to us for leadership and solutions to this escalating threat to their safety,” Gibson wrote. “We continue to provide the means by which the trigger can be pulled.”

Another bill filed by Democrats would expand the state’s red-flag law to add parents, grandparents, spouses, siblings and guardians to those who can petition the courts to seize firearms. Under existing law, only law enforcement officers can file a petition for guns to be removed from people suspected of being a threat.

Katie Betta, a spokeswoman for Galvano, wrote in an email the review is an opportunity for lawmakers “to hear from stakeholders, study any available data and ultimately determine what further actions could be taken at the state level.”

“President Galvano does not have preconceived notions regarding a potential outcome, rather he wants to ensure senators have an opportunity to revisit these important issues in light of the recent violent attacks across the country,” she wrote.

Sen. Tom Lee, who will lead the review, said he hasn’t taken anything off the table, including gun control.

“I understand that is going to be a central question that is part of this discussion,” said Lee, RThonotosassa.

State Sen. José Javier Rodríguez, D-Miami, questioned why the Senate needs to undertake a lengthy review of gun control measures.

“There is nothing to study on gun control,” he said. “We know what we need to do. They just refuse to do it.”

Florida’s GOP Legislature has been mostly hostile to gun control legislation, but lawmakers passed some measures after the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman High School that killed

17 students and staff.

Those changes included raising the age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21, making it easier for law enforcement to seize guns from dangerous people, imposing a statewide three-day waiting period for long-gun sales, boosting mental health and school security funding and banning bump stocks, which enable semiautomatic weapons to fire more rapidly.

Gibson wrote that not one of those measures would have prevented the shooting in El Paso, Texas.

“His act of terrorism was carried out with a single, unmodified AK-47-style semi-automatic rifle, legally purchased in Texas and easily available at gun stores and through private sales here in Florida,” she wrote.