Earlier this month, Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a bill that promotes gun safety in Florida. The bill raises the age to buy firearms to 21, imposes a three-day waiting period on most firearm purchases and bans bump stocks, a device that essentially converts a semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic rifle. The bill also allows certain school employees to carry guns as part of new school security measures.
Outside of allowing school employees to carry guns, this is a positive development, and, considering that Scott has earned an A+ rating from the NRA, rather surprising. As glad as I am to see this, I still marvel at Florida. Not only has the Sunshine State been slow to recognize the hazards of easy access to guns, it has gone out of its way to promote bad gun policy.
In 2011, Florida passed a law that prohibited physicians from about asking about guns. The law was prompted by pediatricians asking parents about guns while talking about other household dangers like chemicals, electrical outlets or swimming pools. Somehow, this was viewed as a threat to the Second Amendment, and so the legislature responded with a law that violated the First Amendment.
In reality, guns rights were never threatened, but children’s safety was. It took a federal appellate court to put a stop to the law in 2017.
Remember the Pulse Night Club shooting in Orlando in June 2016 where 49 people were massacred? The Florida government did nothing in response.
What finally prompted change in Florida? The fact that 17 people were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School? Maybe, but the massacre of 49 people at the Pulse Night Club didn’t move the legislature. The difference is that these high school students got organized, got loud and confronted the legislature.
Known for its campaign contributions, what gives the gun lobby its real power is its ability to mobilize its members into a political force. Gun safety advocates—adults, that is—haven’t been nearly as vocal and organized.
But these high school students figured it out.
Also published on Medium.
MAR
About the Author: