Posted on 03/03/2018 12:13:20 PM PST by Beautiful_Gracious_Skies
TALLAHASSEE — On a day filled with emotion, the Florida Senate Saturday debated measures in response to the Parkland tragedy to spend millions of dollars on school safety and mental health that lawmakers have long neglected and limits on access to guns for the first time in decades.
In an unexpected move by a staunchly pro-gun Legislature, senators briefly approved and then rejected a two-year moratorium on sale of AR-15 assault rifles, the type used in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
The surprise action came on an unrecorded voice vote, in which senators shout yea or nay.
Senate President Joe Negron ruled that the amendment passed. As Senate rules allow, it was reconsidered and overturned by a roll call vote of 21-17.
Every no vote against a moratorium was cast by Republicans. Voting for a moratorium were all 15 Senate Democrats and Republicans Anitere Flores of Miami and Rene Garcia of Hialeah.
Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, called assault rifles “weapons of war designed to kill efficiently and effectively … and then they’re modified for civilian use by a $17 billion industry.”
Some Republicans argued that a ban on any specific type of weapon was unconstitutional, and the first step toward confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens. Democrats countered that a ban on 45 types of assault weapons in Maryland has been upheld by a federal appeals court.
The Republican majority also succeeded in defeating Democratic proposals for a permanent assault weapons ban; mandatory registration of guns; and new child-proof trigger locks on guns.
The senator who called for a second vote was Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Republicans questioned the legality of outlawing sales of a specific type of firearm, and it was unlikely that the more conservative House would have agreed with the moratorium.
On the moratorium question and many others, Democrats insisted on recorded roll call votes. It was part of a strategy to force Republicans to reaffirm their support for the gun lobby’s agenda in an election year in which guns could be the single most important wedge issue.
Senators spent all day Saturday debating the gun measures in advance of a final vote Monday.
“If anything has come out of that tragedy, it is the realization that we have not done enough to this point comprehensively to have mechanisms in place…to prevent this from occurring,” said Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, as he introduced a new draft of the Senate plan.
The Senate had planned to take up its version of the legislation Friday, but with dozens of amendments drafted by Democrats, Senate leaders decided to spend much of Saturday debating the issue.
Galvano also revised the proposal to include some components sought by House leaders in an attempt to send the bill to the other chamber and have it approved in time for it to reach the governor’s desk before session ends on March 9.
Galvano called the legislation a compilation of “many, many ideas,” informed in part by the parents of victims and students at the school and many in the Parkland community who traveled to Tallahassee.
“I think this journey is just beginning,” Galvano added. “This is not the end all and be all. I think we have much to do in this area, and I plan to do much in this area” so that all people are “safe to lead their daily lives and be productive in this state.”
The four-part package focuses on mental health, firearms safety, school safety and communication and includes what Galvano said was “the most frequent request” — to raise the age from 18 to 21. He failed to note that many of the parents and thousands of activists who rallied at the Capitol also wanted lawmakers to ban assault weapons.
Responding to questions, Galvano said he included what he thought was necessary for school safety, and he “did not want to include at this point a complete ban on firearms.” He said he does not believe an assault weapons ban would be constitutional under the privacy and right to bear arms provisions of Florida’s Constitution.
Known as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, the legislation will be accompanied by an unprecedented infusion of cash into the school system to address mental health issues.
The package includes $18.3 million for mobile crisis teams working with the Department of Children and Families and the schools; $500,000 for mental health first aid training: and $69 million for mental health assistance to school districts.
In response to reports that law enforcement and school officials had numerous warnings signs to flag troubling behavior by gunman Nikolas Cruz, Galvano said the legislation “empowers law enforcement” to seize and hold firearms for up to 24 hours for anyone who is being held under the Baker Act and longer if they obtain a risk protection order from the court. If someone is deemed a “significant risk or threat” a court can also issue a search warrant for firearms.
The Senate expects to debate the bill much of Saturday, addressing as many as 41 amendments filed mostly by Democrats, and vote on the bill on Monday.
In a caucus meeting before the session, the 15 Senate Democrats agreed on a series of a half-dozen amendments that they will demand be decided by recorded roll call votes. The amendments include a proposed assault weapons ban and restoring the ability of cities and counties to enact stricter gun laws than the Legislature has approved.
One reason Democrats want to record votes on those amendments is to build a record for use in upcoming campaigns in which support or opposition for stricter gun controls could be a major issue.
“The message that we send begins here today,” said Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg.
Key features of the bill include:
* Expanding the existing three-day waiting period on handguns to apply to all firearms and requiring that the waiting period be extended if the gun background check is not completed. The exceptions to the waiting period are for those who already hold concealed weapons permits and for people who have completed a 16-hour hunter safety course, are law enforcement or correctional officers or are members of the military.
* Raising the minimum age to purchase a rifle or a shotgun from 18 to 21.
* Banning the use, sale and possession of bump stocks, which modify semi-automatic firearms to become automatic.
* Establishing the Marjory Stoneman Douglass Public Safety Commission beginning in June and lasting for three years. The panel will make recommendations on school safety and understand what went wrong at Douglas High. Members will be appointed by the Legislature, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the governor. “This commission will have teeth,” Galvano said, noting it will have the ability to review records and issue subpoenas through FDLE.
* Creating the Office of Safe Schools, which includes a safety officer in each district and an individual in each school. The goal is to apply the best practices and “make sure that along with everything else that we focus on from the state down to the local that we prioritize safety and security,” Galvano said.
* Providing mental health money to serve at-risk children and families in the school system.
* Establishing Safe School officers in each school, including school resource officers as well as the ability for some districts to train and arm teachers or other school personnel to carry concealed weapons. “We want to have at least one or more officers at each school,” Galvano said.
* Establishing the “marshal program” that allows school districts and sheriffs departments the option of developing a program for school personnel to undergo 132 hours of training, “for the limited purpose of responding to an active shooter situation,” Galvano said. “There will be no other authority invested in that purpose.”
* Developing a mobile app called “Fortify Florida,” for students, parents, teachers and others to forward tips on suspicious activity and behavior anonymously. Galvano said it was a recommendation that came to the legislature through the attorney general’s office but “the legislation is not geared to any particular vendor.”
“We have to start somewhere,” Galvano said, noting the speed with which the measure has moved in less than a week.
During the debate Saturday morning, senators from both parties peppered Galvano with questions for nearly two hours.
Many questions centered on the “school marshal program,” which would deputize trained school personnel to carry concealed weapons during school hours. Galvano repeatedly emphasized it would be voluntary and could take place only with the approval of a county sheriff and school superintendent.
“The intent is that it is voluntary on the part of the sheriff,” Galvano said.
Parkland parents and students who have appeared before legislative committee were overwhelmingly opposed to arming school teachers, as is the governor. The black caucus took a position in opposition of the measure, saying they fear that black students could be disproportionately targeted by teachers carrying weapons.
Because the bill limits access to guns to some people, the National Rifle Association opposes the bill. In a blast message to members, the Florida chapter of the National Rifle Association on Thursday urged their members to call for a defeat of the bill.
“Senators are being bullied into voting for gratuitous gun control measures in order to be able to vote on school safety,” the message said. “Senate leadership is trying to force Senators to vote for gun control if they want to vote to harden schools, to put armed security in schools and to keep guns out of the hands of dangerously mentally ill people.
If the state has to go to trial, what impact will the failure (pureposeful) to follow rules of evidence have upon the case? To remove and dispose of his clothes and shoes, not put them in evidence bags is a critical clue to ‘something’ /// NO leo would risk a failed prosecution due to discarding major evidence, right?
Where was it stated that his clothing had been misplaced?
I have two sources in Browser county in law enforcement from whom that comes. And the clothes were not misspla ex. They were disposed of, as in eliminated from evidence potential.
Thanks for posting this. It is very important for these and similar details to be widely disseminated so that they are available as background info when supporters of the truth and the Second Amendment must rise to counter some madness or misinformation.
I see that the ISIS backpack bomb in the Utah public school of a few days ago has already been buried by the MSM. Searching news.google.com for “utah school bomb” turns up a single story on NBC. The rest of the stories are local media.
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