Florida
Governor Rick Scott, a loyal ally of the US gun lobby under mounting
pressure to act in the aftermath of last week’s deadly mass shooting,
urged state lawmakers on Friday to tighten access to firearms for young
people and the mentally disturbed.
Scott said he would work with the
Republican-controlled legislature over the next two weeks to raise the
minimum legal age for buying any gun in Florida from 18 to 21, with some
exceptions for younger individuals serving in the military or law
enforcement.
That proposal put the Republican governor at odds with
the National Rifle Association (NRA), which has opposed higher age
limits in Florida, where a person must be at least 21 to buy a handgun
but can be as young as 18 to purchase an assault rifle.
But Scott,
who has been endorsed by the NRA and received its highest rating for
supporting the rights of gun owners, said he opposed an outright ban on
assault rifles, as some gun control advocates have demanded.
He also
backed adoption of a law, like those enacted in a handful of other
states, allowing police and family members to obtain restraining orders
to bar people suspected of posing a threat of violence from possessing
guns.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who is leading the
investigation of the February 14 shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School, welcomed Scott’s plan as a “strong first step in
giving us the proactive ability to keep Florida safer.”
But critics
of the plan, which closely mirrored proposed measures unveiled on Friday
by leaders of the state legislature, said it failed to go far enough.
“He
is doing the bare minimum,” said US Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida
Democrat widely expected to face a re-election challenge this year from
Scott.
Julie Kessel, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, called Scott’s proposals “very small, incremental changes.”
The
17 people slain in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Parkland were shot
with a semiautomatic AR-15-style assault weapon, which authorities say
was purchased legally last year by the accused gunman, Nikolas Cruz,
when he was 18 years of age.
Cruz, now 19, a former Stoneman Douglas
student who authorities said had a history of run-ins with the law and
was expelled from school for disciplinary problems, has been charged
with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
In addition to age limits,
Scott said he wanted to change state laws to make it “virtually
impossible for anyone who has mental issues to use a gun,” echoing
similar calls by US President Donald Trump.
The governor called in
particular for a new program allowing a family member, police officer or
community welfare expert to seek a special court order barring the
purchase or possession of a firearm by anyone shown to pose a safety
threat due to mental illness or violent behavior.
Scott also urged
amending state law so that anyone involuntarily hospitalized as
dangerously mentally ill be stripped of all access to firearms, with a
court hearing required before their gun rights could be restored.
On
Capitol Hill on Friday, a group of 18 House Republicans urged House
Speaker Paul Ryan to schedule a vote on legislation strengthening
background checks.
The legislation already passed the House in December.
But it was coupled with a controversial measure aimed at significantly expanding permits for carrying concealed weapons.
The
group of House Republicans urged Ryan to bring it to the House floor as
a stand-alone bill so that it will have a greater chance of approval by
the Senate and enactment into law.
Scott also called for posting law
enforcement officers in every public school and for mandatory “active
shooter training” for students and faculty.
He spoke as staff members were returning to Stoneman Douglas for the first time since the massacre.
“Everything was quiet, and looked like it was frozen in time,” social studies teacher Greg Pittman said.
Outside the school, some teachers gazed at flowers and makeshift memorials.
One woman who brought balloons to add to the displays fell to her knees in tears.
Classes are due to resume on Wednesday, but the building where most of the bloodshed occurred will remain closed.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump criticised the armed sheriff’s deputy assigned to the school for doing a “poor job.”
The
deputy, Scot Peterson, resigned after an internal investigation found
he failed to go inside and confront the shooter, the Broward sheriff
said on Thursday.
A young man views memorials on a fence surrounding Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.