The FSU shooting already likely scuttled any new pro-gun measures coming out of the Florida legislature this year. Then again, the odds for some of these measures were long from the start. I’ll probably get into that one later today.
However, mass shootings tend to trigger some to try and take advantage of the outrage to pass gun control in states that normally wouldn’t be open to that.
It’s how Florida got some of its most egregious gun control rules.
Now, some from FSU want more of it.
Madalyn Propst, an Orlando teenager, started taking part in school shooter drills in kindergarten, mourned the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre when she was 10 and Thursday had her freshman year of college upended by a gunman’s rampage.
Now, the 19-year-old Florida State University freshman is urging Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature to do something to stem the deadly wave of gun violence that has become a recurring trauma for her generation.
“The time for thoughts and prayers has passed,” Propst said Tuesday in the Capitol’s rotunda. “It is time for policy and change because while thoughts and prayers can put a Band-Aid over a bullet wound, they will do nothing to stop the next bullet.”
Thursday’s mass shooting on FSU’s campus that killed two and injured six others happened about a mile away from the state Capitol building where the Florida House had recently voted to lower the age limit to buy a rifle from 21 to 18.
That bill would undo a gun control measure enacted in the aftermath of the 2018 Parkland school shooting that left 17 students and staff dead.
Propst, a Lake Brantley High School graduate, and three other Florida State University students called on lawmakers to keep gun regulations in place and consider other proposals they think would save lives. Propst is the president of the FSU College Democrats and spoke at the event along with Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell.
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The students said they want increased funding for mental health and active shooter training and more safe-storage regulations for guns. They also said locks on FSU classroom doors failed to work properly, leaving them dangerously exposed to the shooter, and the suspected gunman’s red flags were missed.
Amy Farnum-Patronis, an FSU spokeswoman, said in an email the university is reviewing its safety protocols, including locks.
Now, mental health funding is fine, as is active shooter training. Going after FSU over the door locks is also completely legitimate. It’s asinine that something so basic wasn’t already addressed long ago, especially since this isn’t even the first high-profile shooting to take place at FSU, with another about a decade ago.
But let’s talk about the laws on the books for a moment, then we’ll talk about mandatory storage laws.
Florida is the most restrictive pro-gun state in the nation, with many of those laws specifically designed to prevent something like FSU from happening. From prohibitions on adults under 21 getting guns to mandatory waiting periods for gun purchases to red flag laws, Florida has many of the measures that anti-gunners say are essential in preventing mass murder.
None of those laws did a damn thing in Tallahassee on Thursday.
So all these laws failed, but now we’re getting the push for mandatory storage laws. What these folks are missing is that mandatory storage laws aren’t going to be written in such a way that legal adults in the household can’t access a firearm. The alleged shooter here is 20. He’s not some high school kid who would suddenly be stopped by Mom’s gun safe. He’s someone who was old enough to buy a firearm himself in most states. Trying to write a mandatory storage law to keep him from accessing a gun would mean making it impossible for anyone else to access the gun, too, which negates having guns in the house for self-defense.
I get that students are rattled right now. I understand that entirely.
Gun control isn’t the answer. If anything, what happened at FSU is a prime example of how it doesn’t work. Every law on the books failed, including that whole “gun-free zone” thing.
Gun rights, however, might have changed things considerably on Thursday.
Read the full article here
