ANGER INTO ACTION
A movement in motion: Students head to Tallahassee
About 100 Marjory Stoneman Douglas students — some of whom had just come from the funerals of their friends — boarded two buses to Tallahassee on Tuesday. “We are going to talk to [legislators] about common-sense gun safety,” said Chris Grady, 19, a senior. “We hope to get a lot done, but we also know how politicians are.” Their goals: Make it difficult to buy semi-automatic weapons and make background checks for gun buyers “very extensive,” Grady said. “We don’t want to take away people’s guns,” said Jose Iglesias, 17, a senior. “But no one needs an AR-15. They are only used to kill.” The buses left from the Publix parking lot at Heron Bay. Junior Charlotte Dwyer, 17, said the students plan to stay in touch with the legislators and remind them they will be voting soon. “We’re not backing down,” she said. “We’re not little kids. We’ve had to grow up so fast in the past week.” Later Tuesday, as students watched, the House refused to take up a bill to ban the sale of assault rifles.
Less than a week after 17 people were fatally shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the state House has voted down a motion to take up a bill that would ban assault rifles, effectively killing the measure for this session.
The motion failed by a 36-71 vote.
Students from Stoneman Douglas High were in the gallery to watch the vote.
As the Florida House opened its session Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Kionne McGhee asked for a procedural move that would have allowed it to consider a bill to ban assault rifles and large capacity magazines.
He said the move stemmed from the massacre last week that has refueled a national debate about gun control.
The bill had been assigned to three committees but was not scheduled for a hearing. The committees won't meet again before the legislative session ends March 9.
McGhee said that means the bill would be dead unless the House voted to remove it from the committees and let it be considered by the full House.
Republican leaders in the House and Senate say they will consider proposals including raising age restrictions for gun purchases and the red-flag bill regarding temporarily taking away someone's guns if they are deemed a threat to others.
The House did not debate the merits of the bill because McGhee’s motion involved a procedural issue. But the House voted 71-36 to reject taking up the measure on the floor.
Nikolas Cruz is accused of using an AR-15 rifle, a type of weapon that would be covered under the bill.
A Senate version of the bill (SB 196), filed by Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, also has not been heard in committees.
Meanwhile, a Florida Senate committee endorsed a proposal to put law enforcement officers in every school in the state.
Only slightly more than half of Florida's more than 4,000 public schools have resource officers. They are sworn law-enforcement officers and allowed to carry a weapon on a school campus.
The Senate Education Committee voted Tuesday to include the requirement in a sweeping education bill that is now moving through the legislature.
Information from the News Service of Florida and the Associated Press was used in this report.