The Florida Senate Passes A Big Gun Bill

Over the weekend, the Florida Senate approved of a ban on the sales of AR-15. Thankfully, that only lasted 15 minutes or so.

The Florida Senate did end up passing a gun-related bill though. Here’s the deal.

The bill passed 20-18, and it hits all the angles. It pours millions of dollars into school security programs and improves mental health programs. Both good, but this is the best part. The bill basically creates an optional program for school officials who want to pack heat.

In response to a deadly Florida school shooting last month, the state’s Senate narrowly passed a bill Monday that would create new restrictions on rifle sales and allow some teachers to carry guns in schools. The 20-18 vote came after three hours of often emotional debate. Support and opposition crossed party lines, and it was clear many of those who voted for the bill weren’t entirely happy with it.

Democratic Senator Lauren Book doesn’t think the bill does enough.

“Do I think this bill goes far enough? No! No, I don’t!” she said.

She wants a full blown ban on AR-15s. But you and I both know that would accomplish NOTHING.

“My community was rocked. My school children were murdered in their classrooms,” she said. “I cannot live with a choice to put party politics above an opportunity to get something done that inches us closer to the place I believe we should be as a state,” she said. “This is the first step in saying never again.”

In addition, the bill raises the age to purchase rifles to 21.

It really was a bipartisan effort. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers didn’t like parts of the bill (Democrats didn’t like the idea of arming teachers, and Republicans didn’t like the idea of raising the age to purchase rifles). This thing barely passed, you guys. If just one more senator voted no, we wouldn’t even be talking about it. It wouldn’t have passed.

Here are more details.

The Senate amended its bill to limit which teachers could volunteer to go through law enforcement training and carry guns in schools. Any teacher who does nothing but work in a classroom would not be eligible for the program, but teachers who perform other duties, such as serving as a coach, and other school employees could still participate. Other exceptions would be made for teachers who are current or former law enforcement officers, members of the military or who teach in a Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps program.

The bill would name the program for slain assistant football coach Aaron Feis, who has been hailed as a hero for shielding students during the school attack. The 37-year-old graduated from Stoneman Douglas in 1999 and worked mainly with the junior varsity, living in nearby Coral Springs with his wife and daughter. Republican Sen. Bill Galvano said he asked for and received the approval of Feis’ family to name the program for him.

Galvano, who took the lead on the bill, said he recognized that there was bipartisan opposition to it but said that was a good thing.

“You know what that means in my experience? That we’ve gotten somewhere,” he said. “We’re hitting nerves. We’re going into areas that may not be our comfort zone.”

It sounds like a good start. It’s not perfect, but it’s something.

And he said the bill will make a difference. In addition to the gun restrictions and arming some school personnel, it would create new mental health programs for schools, improve communication between schools, law enforcement and state agencies, create a task force to look at mistakes made during mass shootings nationally and then make recommendations on how to continue to improve law, and establish an anonymous tip line where students and others can report threats to schools.

“This bill will make a difference now. When it becomes law, things will start changing,” Galvano said. “We listened and we’re trying. We’re trying hard, we don’t have all the answers but we are giving it our best and we will keep giving it our best.”

The bill will now go to the House, so we’ll see what happens.

One thing’s for sure. This will be WAY more effective than banning “scary” looking guns. This bill begins to address the ACTUAL PROBLEM– the reality of soft targets and our country’s mental health crisis.

h/t CBS News