Florida Legislature rejects weapons ban The Florida state

Florida Legislature rejects weapons ban

The Florida state House on Tuesday rejected a ban on many semiautomatic guns (such as the AR-15 rifle allegedly used by Nikolas Cruz to kill 17 people) and large capacity magazines as dozens of survivors of last week's school shooting headed to the state Capitol to turn their grief into political action. Lawmakers voted down a motion to consider the ban during a session that opened with a prayer for the 17 people killed by a former student last Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The vote in the Republican-dominated body was 71 -36. Much of the Republican argument is that it isn’t about guns themselves, rather better laws need to be in place so that mental health and criminal conviction records that legally bar individuals from buying weapons are consistently sent to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Many students and staff who survived the Florida school shooting departed earlier Tuesday for the Capitol, where they hope to speak with lawmakers Wednesday about school safety and gun control. The pressure grows in Washington to do something on guns. President Trump indicated he's open to strengthening background checks and directed the attorney general to look into banning bump stocks, which help semiautomatic weapons fire like automatics. Democratic lawmakers often call for tighter controls on gun purchases, while Republicans often oppose them, saying they would violate the Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution sanctioning gun ownership.

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