The House plan provides money for student and faculty active shooter training. | AP Photo Scott, Florida GOP lawmakers disagree on arming teachers, gun waiting periods

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Rick Scott proposed raising the age limit to 21 for most gun purchases in Florida as Florida House and Senate Republicans moved ahead with a plan to allow school personnel with law enforcement accreditation to carry guns and to impose select gun-control measures.

It was a striking end to a week that’s seen Florida, a bastion of support for gun rights, at the center of the national gun debate following a mass shooting last week that left 17 people dead at a high school in the state.


In a late morning press conference, Scott, a Republican, proposed a $500 million spending package to address school safety and mental health. He said he does not support arming teachers, proposing training school guards instead. People with military training would be exempted from the 21-year-old age requirement for purchasing firearms.

"This is a time when I believe we must all come together, and even cross party lines," Scott said. "Of course, we won’t all agree on every issue, but I do believe this is a moment when our state can come together around a commonsense set of actions."

The House and Senate will also file proposals that would cost between $400 million and $500 million, and will include identical ideas that were hashed out by chamber leaders over the past week. Those ideas include allowing law-enforcement-trained school employees to become armed “marshals,” doubling the number of school resource officers, beefing up mental health services and instituting some gun-control measures. POLITICO had reported the details before they were announced.

Another legislative idea would raise the age limit to buy a rifle from 18 to 21 for anyone who is not active military or a member of law enforcement. It would require a three-day waiting period for purchases of all types of firearms.

There’s also language authorizing police to impose a three-day suspension of gun rights for anyone who was involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation under the state Baker Act and plans to increase in-school mental health resources. Under Florida's Baker Act, people can be involuntarily committed for 72 hours if they pose a threat to themselves or others.

Another provision calls for a ban on bump stocks, which allow weapons to rapidly spray bullets.

The bill's price tag comes to $400 million, which includes $263 million for school safety improvements and $102 million for mental health services. Those safety improvements include better security equipment, training and 1,500 new school resource officers. There's also money for the Florida Department of Education to monitor social media for threats.

Lawmakers at the state and federal levels are under pressure to quickly address school shootings after a Feb. 14 massacre at south Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead, 14 of them students. The gunman was a 19-year-old former student who had been the subject of alerts to local and national law enforcement officials.

Florida House Republicans and Democrats began work on legislation soon after authorities said the former student walked into the school with a high-powered AR-15 rifle and slaughtered students and teachers. The gunman, Nikolas Cruz, confessed to police and was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Student survivors quickly turned their grief into action. They spent Tuesday and Wednesday at the state capitol in Tallahassee demanding tighter gun controls, including a ban on assault-style weapons, and some families met with President Donald Trump in a televised forum at the White House on Wednesday. A protest is planned in Washington next month.

Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, a Republican, said a prohibition on assault-style weapons would yield too much authority to government.

On Wednesday, Corcoran told reporters that deputizing school staff under the marshal program, as named in the proposal, would act as a deterrent to anyone wanting to attack a school. It would require school employees to undergo extensive training, a psychiatric evaluation and hold a concealed weapons permit — one of the only required firearms licenses in the state. The program would be governed by new standards adopted by the state Department of Education.

"All of these shooters have one thing in common — they are abject, absolute cowards,” Corcoran said. “Here’s what a coward doesn’t want to do — stare down a marshal with a gun the second he goes through a door.”

The idea is similar to one proposed by Trump, who expressed interest in arming highly trained employees after a meeting Wednesday at the White House with families from Stoneman Douglas High School, Sandy Hook Elementary, Columbine High School and local schools in Washington, D.C.

Senate President Joe Negron, a Republican, said he is willing to consider a program that would potentially deputize schoolteachers and staff after they are trained and evaluated.

"I support the guiding principle that having properly trained adults to supplement the safety we already have," Negron said. "I am open to the idea of having properly credentialed teachers, members that have appropriate training and background tests done."

The Florida House plan also provides money for student and faculty active shooter training. And there is a call for required emergency drills for active shooter and hostage situations.



Negron said the state Senate plan does not include a ban on assault-style weapons.

"As one of the four guiding principles — that is fidelity to the constitution," he said. "There is a delicate balance between rights and how they are exercised."

The proposed three-day waiting period to buy a weapon is expected to be contained in both chambers' plans. The House plan would exempt concealed weapon permit holders and those who complete a 16-hour Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee hunter safety course.



Elements of the bill came from workshops organized by Scott in which law enforcement, mental health and education professionals discussed possible solutions to prevent future mass shootings at schools. One idea heavily pushed by Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri was the three-day gun rights suspension for people involuntarily committed for a mental health exam under the Baker Act. It would only apply to people who have exhibited interest in harming others, and police can ask a judge for a 60-day extension, if necessary.

Another issue brought up during the workshop that was included in the House plan is a statewide commission that would investigate system failures that led up to previous mass shootings. The panel would then make recommendations for system improvements. Money would also be given to the state Department of Education to monitor social media for threats of cyberbullying, suicide or criminal activity.

Alexandra Glorioso contributed to this report..