Bill restricts purchase of guns, arms teachers

MIAMI: The US state of Florida, scene of America’s latest school shooting, has passed a bill that raises the minimum age to buy firearms to 21 while funding a programme that allows some teachers and school employees to be armed.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which takes its name from last month’s mass shooting in which 17 people including 14 students were killed, passed the legislature’s lower house a day after clearing the senate.

It will now be sent to governor Rick Scott to sign.

He has not indicated whether he would veto the law, but he has previously expressed opposition to US President Donald Trump’s call to arm teachers.

America’s long moribund gun control debate was revived by survivors of the Parkland shooting, who a day after their school was attacked launched the “Never Again” movement demanding legislative action.

The bill raises the minimum age to purchase all firearms from 18 to 21 -- a move opposed by the powerful National Rifle Association lobby -- bans modification devices that make a semi-automatic weapon fully automatic, and increases mental health funding.

It also includes a voluntary “guardian program” named after coach Aaron Feis who was slain in the Parkland attack, intended to “aid in the prevention or abatement of active assailant incidents on school premises” by allowing some school employees to be armed.

The bill does not ban the sale of the AR-15 assault rifle -- the weapon used by Nikolas Cruz -one of the key demands. AFP