TALAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican lawmakers in Florida have introduced two bills that would roll back gun control measures passed in the wake of the 2018 shooting. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
Even with a conservative supermajority in the Legislature, the measures are expected to face some resistance in the Senate, where the chamber’s new president has expressed opposition to some gun rights proposals.
After a gunman killed 17 people and injured 17 others at the suburban Broward County high school in 2018, survivors of the Parkland massacre and relatives of the victims descended on the state capital in an extraordinary feat of advocacy, demanding action from the Republican-led legislature that had previously shunned gun control measures but passed them anyway comprehensive legislation just weeks after the shooting.
That included setting up a red flag lawallowing courts to take guns away from people who pose a danger to themselves or others, and a measure raising the age for purchasing a gun from 18 to 21. Since then Gun rights advocates have worked on undo these provisions.
“I look forward to our state once again earning the title of Gunshine State, where citizens are no longer asked to trade God-given freedoms for a politician’s empty promise of safety,” Republican state Rep. Joel Rudman said in a statement in which he repeals a bill he is sponsoring that would allow the open carrying of firearms red flag law.
Republican Senator Randy Fine has introduced a measure that would roll back a law banning people under the age of 21 from purchasing guns.
Both Rudman and Fine rush in busy primaries for seats in the U.S. House after President-elect Donald Trump nominated two Florida congressmen to serve in his House incoming administration.
While the Florida House has introduced gun rights bills in the years since Parkland, Senate leaders have blocked them certain measures. Last month, newly sworn-in Senate President Ben Albritton told reporters he does not support open carry and is skeptical about rolling back other measures taken in the wake of the 2018 shooting.
“I have supported law enforcement all my life … And I stand with them in opposition today,” Albritton said of open carry.
___ Kate Payne is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.