While students demand action, House says assault weapons ban is not up for discussion

Even as survivors from the Stoneman Douglas High School massacre roamed the Capitol’s hallways demanding lawmakers act to stop mass killings Tuesday, the Florida House refused to debate an assault weapons ban. The vote was along party-lines in the GOP controlled chamber.

A motion to hear a proposal by Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, failed, 36 – 71. Tallahassee representatives Loranne Ausley and Ramon Alexander voted with Democrats. Rep. Halsey Beshears, R-Monticello, failed to vote on the issue.

The procedural vote came as the nation's attention is focused on Florida and the Legislature after the events in Parkland a week ago. The first wave of Douglas students began lobbying lawmakers Tuesday morning. More were expected to arrive in Tallahassee Tuesday night for a Wednesday noon rally.

The overflow of students at Sen. Perry Thurston's office pushed Spencer Blum’s back against the wall. Blum wants an assault weapons ban. A 14-year old classmate chimed in she didn’t want to live in fear of going to school.

“A gunman opened fire with an AR-15 at my school. Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Pulse and now my school. Enough,” said Blum in Tallahassee while his school remains closed so the people of Parkland can bury the victims.

“This is where it stops,” said Blum, who plans to study chemistry or meteorology when he goes to college.

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Gun control advocates welcomed Blum and the other students as reinforcements in a fight they have been losing for nearly two decades. Time is short. There are only three weeks remaining in the 2018 legislative session. They face a legislative schedule that is about to become mostly focus on a budget. When the session ends March 9, lawmakers won’t return until after the November elections.

The House vote shows, despite the immensity of last week's tragedy, students face a tough climb to get new gun restrictions.

Speaking to a radio interviewer on Monday, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, Stoneman Douglas Class of ’99, explained the hard realities of gun politics in Florida.

“We’ve deemed it unsafe for a teenager to go rent a car but not unsafe to have an AR-15 and extended magazines and enough ammo to go to war on the streets of America,” said Moskowitz.

In the works is a six-point plan to restrict access to firearms for those with mental illness, a three-day waiting period for rifle purchases, a minimum age of 21 for rifle purchases, expanded background checks, and money for school safety.

Gov. Rick Scott organized a series of workshops Tuesday in Tallahassee to examine school safety, mental illness and gun regulations. Scott has said all options are on the table. Students, gun control advocates and lawmakers are waiting to see what he will propose.

Gun control advocates say they feel the ground shifting in a long-running debate

“I have been here for 12 years; these people don’t listen to me on gun control. That’s just a fact,” said Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Hollywood, of the Republican majority.

“These students may be the change agents needed to make something happen in Florida when it comes to gun control,” said Jenne. “The kids from Stoneman Douglas are old enough to read bills and laws and say ‘this is wrong.’ The kids at Sandy Hook couldn’t do that. These are young adults. It’s a different animal.”

In his office before the House vote, Jenne said at the very least the Senate and House should discuss a proposal to ban semi-automatic weapons. He thought it a long-shot at best to get the majority to agree. Sen. Linda Stewart and Smith, her fellow Democrat from Orlando, both filed the proposal after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016.

“They need to realize and acknowledge that assault weapons are weapons of war,” said Smith. “There’s a reason why the Douglas shooter left his other guns at home. The assault weapon is the gold standard for mass murder.”

Jack Levine lobbied the Florida Legislature on child welfare issues for more than 40 years. Now retired, he is still a familiar sight in a Capitol building he once called a “monument to subtlety.” Usually when change comes, it is in increments small enough to be unnoticeable until a critical mass is formed, he believes.

“They are turning the corner on an amazing transformation,” said Levine drinking coffee outside the statehouse cafeteria as a group of teenagers filed in for lunch. Levine explained the change the students bring to the gun debate is in perspective – the witnesses are no longer the experts but an individual with real life experience.

“We saw it in the foster care system 10 years ago, when foster youth showed up at committee meetings,” recalled Levine. “We love social workers, but the kids’ experiences were more influential than the experts’ credentials.”

More importantly, Levine said the change the students represented is their transformation from voices in a crowd to promising voters.

“And that’s what gets the attention of most political people. It’s not just what you say. It is what you do,” Levine said with a smile.

That's why Blum and his schoolmates had come seeking a ban on assault weapons.

“I will not rest until we get this done. I will not let them beat around the bush,” said the high school junior, eyeing two senators as they pass by. “I want them to tell me whether they will vote yes to save lives or will they vote no and let this continue.”

Reporter James Call can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com.

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