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Why Florida's new gun control bill is
a historic
The passing of a new gun control bill in Florida, even a watered down one, must bg
viewed. Rosie 1
Students from Stoneman Douglas holding
(TAMPAprotests at Florida's legislature demanding gun reforms since the massacre last
` ASSOCIATED PRESS
By ROSIE DIMANNO Star Columnist
Thu., March 8, 2o18
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3/9/2018 Why Florida's new gun control bill is a historic blow to the NRA I Toronto Star
CLEARWATER — Let me say, with some leeriness and plenty more regret, that arming
teachers is not absolutely the stupidest idea ever.
If there were legions of psychopaths roaming the Earth, targeting kids in school, a rifle -
toting librarian to defend students and staff and blow away the assailant might not be so
revolting a concept. But that scenario, as a deliberately murderous pogrom, is pretty
much limited to Taliban -controlled areas in Afghanistan and the Pakistan tribal regions.
In the rest of the world, and most particularly in the United States, it onlyfeels like
schools are under relentless siege by shooters gone berserk. Because the incidents are so
ghastly, the bloodshed so horrific — most often at I of a seriously disturbed
young person — the threat looms disproportionately as an existential terror. But all the
research data shows s not an escalating trend at all. While schools in this country are
increasingly turning into fortresses, bristling with metal detectors and on-site police
officers — six states now require mandatory active shooter drills — experts who've
charted the path of mass shootings (defined as episodes in which four or more
individuals are killed by firearms) and school shootings say that such events have
actually decreased over the past three decades.
"There is not an epidemic of school shootings," criminology professor James Alan said in
a statement following the Valentine's Day slaying Of 17 people, including 14 students, at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Alan and a doctoral student at
Northeastern University, using a variety of data sources, noted that four times as many
children were shot and killed in schools in the early'gos than today. And that was
blamed on the overwhelming number of guns brought into schools by students at a time
when the phenomenon had become a plague, which is what gave rise to the gun -free
school zone laws of the mid-'gos, a demonstrably effective undertaking that signcantly
reduced gun -violence.
The Northeastern University research emphasized the rarity of mass school shootings.
On average, the data shows, mass murders occur between 2o and 30 times per year in
the U.S., and of those, on average, one takes place in a school.
Which is no consolation, obviously, if it's your kid's school. One atrocity a year is one too
many.
But with the Parkland tragedy fresh on everyone's mind, President Donald Trump
use aloud about arming teachers as professorial pseudo-Rambos, Mr. Chips as Dirty
Harry.
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3/9/2018 Why Florida's new gun control bill is a historic blow to the NRA I Toronto Star
What's perhaps surprising, in a state like Florida where the NRA has a stomping heavy
footprint, a majority of citizens polled are not at all keen on the idea. And a proposal for
arming teachers was excised from historic new gun legislation that passed in the state
house Wednesday after squeaking through the senate by a 20-18 vote earlier in the week.
Despite the NRA pouring millions into opposing the bill, the pro -gun lobby took it on the
chin, albeit in a diluted package that will still allow for armed gun marshals — including
school staff, but not teachers (unless they're also sports coaches or ROTC instructors) to
carry concealed firearms after undergoing 123 hours of firearms training }
'.I
bascameans trying to avoid the very real prospect that a
whole bunch of African-American students might get shot in high numbers in situations
that have nothing to do with an armed attack against a school. That's not a overwrought
fear in a state where, just this week, a Tampa social studies teacher was removed from
her classroom after it was discovered she'd been hosting a podcast espousing white
nationalist views.
The contentious $67 million (U.S.) voluntary school marshal program would leave the
opt -in or opt -out decision to local school districts. Removing most teachers from the
armed camp was the bill modification insisted upon by Governor Rick Scott, who said he
would otherwise veto the bill when it reached his desk. He's undecided whether to veto i)
anyway, saying he will first consult with families of the Parkland victims — all of whom
signed a letter calling for passage of the legislation. Many students from Parkland and
other schools have been holding die -in protests at the Tallahassee legislature demanding
I un reforms since the massacre.
Even in its watered-down state, the bill marks Florida's first gun restrictions endorsed
by Republicans since the party took control of the Legislature in 1996. That's how
sharply the tide has turned for the NRA in .......... Florida.
ram=
- Bans the sale or possession of "bump stocks," which allow semi-automatic riles to fire
Gives law enforcement officials more power to temporarily seize weapons and
ammunition from people with mental health issue or threatening violence.
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Why Florida's new gun control bill is a historic blow to the NRA I Toronto Star
What the bill doesn't do: ban assault and assault -style weapons, a measure that had been
strenuously pushed by many Parkland students and parents. Nikolas Cruz, charged with
17 counts of first degree murder in the Parkland shooting — which could mean a death
sentence if convicted — strode into the school with an AR -15 assault rifle, designed to
That the bill passed at all must be viewed as a triumph for sanity, although many rightly
condemn the legislation as weak, putting the right to possess guns ahead of the lives of
children. The politics leading up to the vote was furious, with every toughening up
Democratic amendment blocked by the Republican majority. Ultimately lo Democrats
voted for the bill and 19 Republicans, opposed to any curtailing of gun rights, voted
against.
At the very least, Florida has somewhat rejected the alleged "model" for gun marshal
presence widely adopted in Texas, where the law allows for one marshal for every 400
students. A marshal can be a teacher or anybody else — students and staff are not to
know the identitw of their school concealed-carj7i individual. �Whether anz, staff shouI
be trusted with a weapon has also been vehemently debated. Just this past Tuesday, a
custodian f cleaner�, fired from her %rivate Tamixa school made this threat, accordin.-, t]
the arrest sheet, as she was escorted out of the building by police: "I'm coming back an
I'm going to shoot this place and all you people up.") I
It may not seem like very much, this epiphany moment for Florida legislators. It's
actually a huge and historic deal, the first significant hit r has taken.
"More needs to be done and it's important for the country to unite in the same way the
17 families united in support of this bill," said Andy Pollack, whose daughter Meadow
died in the massacre. m a father and I'm on a mission. I'm on a mission to ensure tha)
is R
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