State GOP leaders reject Democrats’ call for special session on guns
Florida Democrats called on the state Legislature Tuesday to hold a special session to pass gun legislation in response to back-to-back mass shootings that left 31 people dead in Texas and Ohio, a request that was quickly rejected by the Republican leadership.
Three-fifths of the GOPcontrolled Legislature would have to agree to have a special session, which would take place before the Legislature’s regular session starts on Jan. 14.
That appears unlikely, with Senate President Bill Galvano and House Speaker José R. Oliva dismissing the need for a special session.
Oliva said in a prepared statement he expects “robust discussions about our Second Amendment rights, mental health, and their importance in our society” during the Legislature’s early committee meetings that start next month and next year’s regular session.
“While I’m sure this request for special session is sincere and well intentioned, we must always strive to do something right rather than just do something,” Oliva said.
Galvano has requested that a committee study mass shootings and white nationalism and report findings to lawmakers. He thinks the “best course of action is to review the issue in a comprehensive manner,” Senate spokeswoman Katie Betta said.
More than 40 Democratic House members sent letters requesting a special session, enough to trigger a poll of the Legislature’s 160 members on whether a special session should be held.
That’ll force lawmakers to go on record as the gun debate heats up in Florida and nationally.
Democrats want the Legislature to vote immediately on a package of bills that span from expanding gun background checks to cover private sales to banning the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines.
State Rep. Dan Daley, DCoral Springs, said he thinks lawmakers shouldn’t wait to act on items that have broad bipartisan support.
“These shootings are happening every day,” said Daley, whose district includes a large number of students who attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. “These shootings are not waiting for the committee process. These bullets aren’t hitting Democrats. They aren’t hitting Republicans. They aren’t hitting independents. They are hitting Americans. They are hitting human beings.”
State Rep. Cindy Polo, DMiramar, said she thinks there will be a political price to pay if legislative leaders continue to shut down the gun debate in Tallahassee.
“My thoughts and prayers are with Republicans when they say no to this special session,” she said.
Democrats tried unsuccessfully to hold a special session on guns after Orlando’s Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016 left 49 Floridians dead.
Legislators passed Florida’s first gun control legislation in two decades after the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland killed 17 students and staff. That legislation raised the age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21, extended a three-day statewide waiting period to cover longgun sales, made it easier for law enforcement to seize guns from dangerous people and banned bump stocks, a device that enables guns to fire more rapidly.
Special sessions aren’t without a cost to taxpayers. Previous special sessions have cost anywhere from $14,000 a day to $86,000 a day, although that’s a small amount in comparison to the state’s nearly $91 billion budget.
The latest mass shootings have put the gun debate back into the forefront.
Twenty-two people died when a gunman opened fire on Aug. 3 at an El Paso, Texas, Wal-Mart. Less than 24 hours later, a shooter equipped with a 100-round ammunition drum killed nine people in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that lasted just 32 seconds.
Last weekend, hundreds of advocates with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America rallied in Fort Lauderdale in support of tougher gun laws. The gathering was one of more than 100 weekend rallies in all 50 states organized to pressure the U.S. Senate to reduce gun violence by enacting background checks and red-flag laws.
Nancy Fry, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action, said she thinks inaction on gun violence will take a political toll in next year’s elections if lawmakers don’t act.
“The people who vote for them are not happy with the way things are going,” she said. “They are not happy we are continuing not to see action on these issues. They are going to continue to speak out, and the numbers will only grow until the Legislature does something about this.”
The National Rifle Association released a video this past week rallying its members and warning them of a “highly orchestrated effort to disarm American citizens unlike anything we’ve ever seen in this country.”
“There is nothing about an insane criminal committing a horrible act that should lead to the government taking guns away from law-abiding citizens,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said. “That will only make us less safe.”
The legislative package proposed by Florida Democrats for the special session did not include an assault weapons ban or other measures that would prohibit the sale of certain types of guns. Voters could consider a referendum in the 2020 election that would ban assault weapons, although Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody is challenging the initiative, saying its language would be confusing to voters.
Democrats proposed a special session to consider an expansion of gun background checks to cover private sales; a ban on the sale or possession of high-capacity ammunition magazines; a reduction in the duration of licenses required to carry concealed firearms; a revision of the requirements for safe storage of firearms in homes; an expansion of the number of people who could petition courts to remove guns from dangerous people; and the creation of an Urban Core Gun Violence Task Force focused on reducing day-to-day gun violence.