Name: Three years after Parkland shootings, political stalemate over gun bills endures in Tallahassee
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Three years after Parkland shootings, political stalemate over gun bills endures in Tallahassee

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AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelFeb 19, 2021 at 8:26 amTALLAHASSEE — Three years after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland spurred a vocal group of students to demand gun law changes, the debate over firearms has been all but muted in the state Capitol.In the wake of the Feb. 14, 2018, shootings that left 17 students and faculty dead and another 17 wounded, lawmakers passed a bill that beefed up school security and imposed gun control measures. They banned bump stocks and the sale of firearms to those under 21 and put a three-day waiting period on all firearm purchases, the first gun reforms passed by the GOP Legislature in at least 20 years.AdvertisementBut since then the debate over whether to expand gun rights or put in place more restrictions has largely stalemated, and the greater restrictions hoped for by gun control advocates after the initial Parkland bill haven’t materialized.Democratic gun-control bills haven’t received a hearing the past three years, shut out by Republicans who control the House and the Senate.Advertisement“We will always have legislators committed to this work … I’m one of them,” said Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, who has filed a bill to ban assault rifles every year since the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando in June 2016. “Inevitably there’ll be more pressure for Republicans to finally change their minds and take action or inevitably Democrats will be in the majority and we’ll ban assault weapons. And we’ll protect our community.”Republicans, however, are coming off an election cycle where they won one state Senate seat and seven House seats and aren’t likely to advance gun control bills this year.Democrats will still try, though, with bills filed to require background checks for the sale or transfer of ammunition (HB 25); increase the requirements for safe storage of firearms (HB 167); ban assault weapons and reduce the capacity of magazines (HB 653); and allow local governments to set their own gun laws (HB 6033).“We are frustrated by the lack of real debate on these issues,” said Senate Democratic Leader Gary Farmer of Lighthouse Point, who is sponsoring the Senate version of the assault weapons ban (SB 370). “We don’t believe that we’re taking away or infringing on peoples’ right to bear arms or to protect themselves. You don’t need an assault weapon to protect yourself you certainly don’t need an assault weapon for any sporting purpose.”Farmer, whose district abuts Parkland in Broward County, has also filed bills to increase requirements for safely storing firearms (SB 294), require all firearm sales to go through a licensed dealer (SB 330) and allow the state to keep records on gun owners (SB 560).At the same time, Republican leaders haven’t advanced some of the more expansive measures favored by the gun lobby, which routinely helped push through gun rights bills before the mass shooting at Pulse in 2016, in which 49 people were killed, spurring more rigorous Democratic opposition to gun bills.Legislation to allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry firearms on college campuses didn’t receive a hearing last year, unlike in years prior to the Pulse shooting when it advanced in the House.The sponsor, Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Howey-in-the-Hills, is trying again, filing it as HB 6001, but it hasn’t received a committee hearing yet ahead of the legislative session that starts March 2. He blames moderate Republicans and GOP leadership for not wanting to address the issue.Advertisement“They’re afraid that the media is going to attack them for being pro-Second Amendment, and there’s a lot of people up here who just aren’t bold and don’t want to take a stand for what it is our voters believe in,” Sabatini said. “They’d rather talk about and act upon less controversial issues. So they’re not in step with their voters.”Sabatini has also filed HB 123, which would repeal the requirement to get a concealed weapons license to carry a concealed firearm; and HB 6005, which removes a law allowing local officials to impose restrictions on carrying weapons during an emergency. Neither has received a hearing.One exception, though, is HB 259, which would allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry guns on the grounds of schools owned by a church or other house of worship, if the place of worship allows it. The bill passed through the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee on Wednesday by a 14-3 vote, with three Democratic votes in favor.“This bill is about restoring the private property rights of religious institutions and restoring to people who go to church the same rights that they have when they go shopping,” NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer said before the vote.WeeklyGet latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. &gt; Sabatini also plans to file legislation to repeal the gun control measures in the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas School Safety Act as he did last year, even though a pair of lawsuits is asking the courts to knock down some of those provisions.A lawsuit from the National Rifle Association alleges the ban on the sale of firearms to 18- to 20-year-olds is unconstitutional. A hearing was set for January in the case, but Judge Mark Walker of the North Florida U.S. Judicial Circuit has postponed that trial because of the COVID-19 pandemic.AdvertisementIn another suit in state court, five people who owned bump stocks, a device that allows a semi-automatic weapon to fire more rapidly, claim the state’s ban is unlawful because it took away their property without compensation. The Florida 1st District Court of Appeal, however, upheld the law in a decision last month.“A prohibition and criminalization of a device used to accelerate the number of ammunition cartridges fired in rapid succession, almost like a machine-gun, falls squarely in the legitimate use of a state’s powers,” Judge Scott Makar wrote in a concurring opinion.Farmer doesn’t think it’s correct to say the gun control measures passed after the shooting have worked, even though there hasn’t been another mass shooting on the scale of Parkland since. Without further action, there could still be another similar tragedy, he said.“It was just very frustrating for myself and many others that in the wake of that tragedy when we had just the incredible emotion of the advocacy of the children and the parents that we didn’t do more,” Farmer said. “We had the opportunity then to do so much more, and we lost it.”grohrer@orlandosentinel.com Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelFeb 19, 2021 at 8:26 amTALLAHASSEE — Three years after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland spurred a vocal group of students to demand gun law changes, the debate over firearms has been all but muted in the state Capitol.In the wake of the Feb. 14, 2018, shootings that left 17 students and faculty dead and another 17 wounded, lawmakers passed a bill that beefed up school security and imposed gun control measures. They banned bump stocks and the sale of firearms to those under 21 and put a three-day waiting period on all firearm...

Three years after Parkland shootings, political stalemate over gun bills endures in Tallahassee

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