In the aftermath of a Valentine’s Day shooting spree that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Gov. Rick Scott has signed into law new restrictions on firearms and increased funding for school safety and mental health care.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, also known as Senate Bill 7026:
- Raises the minimum age for purchasing firearms from 18 to 21, with some exceptions detailed in the law
- Requires a three-day waiting period for firearm purchases, with some exceptions
- Bans the sale or possession of bump stocks, which allow a semiautomatic weapon to fire more like an automatic weapon
- Gives law enforcement more authority to seize weapons and ammunition from those deemed mentally unfit, or who otherwise pose a threat
- Creates the new Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program, named in memory of the assistant football coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who died protecting students from gunfire.
- Includes $400 million to keep students safe and to enhance mental health treatment
The new gun regulations have drawn criticism for going too far and for not going far enough.
The National Rifle Association announced on its Twitter account that it had “filed a lawsuit challenging Florida’s newly-enacted ban on the purchase of firearms by adults between the ages of 18-21.”
It characterized Florida’s action as “an affront” to the Second Amendment, and said it “totally eviscerates the Second Amendment ‘rights of law-abiding adults to keep and bear arms.’”
Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning said he’s glad the Legislature has begun to address school safety by funding some of the measures.
However, Browning added: “Although they are saying that we need to have a SRO (School Resource Officer) in every school, they did not give us the funding to accomplish that.
“So, once again, the school district is in a position to have a legislative mandate to do something, and yet we’re scrambling to find the dollars for it,” Browning said.
The district has SROs at its high schools and middle schools, but not at its elementary schools.
“Our hope was that they were going to take any Safe Schools dollars out of the rainy-day fund,” he said. “They did not do that.”
Browning said he and superintendents across the state are grappling with the state’s decision to establish the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program, which creates a new $67 million program for county sheriffs to train school personnel to neutralize an active school shooter.
Most districts that he’s talked to have chosen not to pursue the program, which will put more guns on school campuses.
Browning said he would have preferred using those funds to help fund SROs, or for building modifications on campuses to improve school safety.
While critics attack the Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott, national protests continue as well.
Students across the country are expected to take part in the National School Walkout on March 14. The event is supposed to last for 17 minutes — a minute for each life lost in the Parkland school shooting.
“I’m pretty confident, based on some conversations we’ve had with principals, that we will have some students who will do that,” Browning said
Browning said principals will make this “as educational as we possibly can, making the connection between public protest, civil disobedience and how that fits into our system of government.”
The National Walkout is planned for 10 a.m., but Browning said that principals have been working with students to minimize disruptions, and some of the walkouts may occur before or after school, or during lunch.
Published March 14, 2018
