A row of different AR-15 style rifles are displayed for sale at a gun shop. [AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File] ▲

Florida lawmakers rejected an assault weapons ban in favor of arming school employees in response to the school shooting in Parkland, so voters who support such a ban have to take matters into their own hands.

Cheer: A Miami-based political committee, for proposing a state constitutional amendment that would ban assault weapons if approved by voters.

The group Ban Assault Weapons Now recently posted the proposal on the state Division of Elections website. It would prohibit possession of "semiautomatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition at once, either in fixed or detachable magazine, or any other ammunition-feeding device" in Florida.

The measure would exempt anyone who lawfully owns such guns before it took effect, but require those weapons to be registered with the state Department of Law Enforcement. The police and military would also be exempted.

Ban Assault Weapons Now includes family members of the victims of the mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, where a total of 66 people were killed. AR-15-type assault weapons were used in both massacres as well as several other mass shootings since a federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004.

The group would need to collect more than 766,200 to put the ban on the Florida ballot in 2020, a high bar. We hope the effort is successful.

Jeer: The sheriff leading the state commission investigating the Douglas High School shooting, for throwing his support toward arming teachers.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told the Associated Press that that he will ask the commission to recommend state law be changed so teachers who undergo background checks and training would be allowed to have guns at schools. Both the state teachers union and PTA oppose the idea, as does The Sun.

After the Parkland shooting, state lawmakers passed a measure that allows school districts to train and arm certain school employees other than teachers. Thirteen of the state's 67 countywide districts adopted the program, with Alachua County Schools being among those that wisely decided against it.

Arming teachers is a dangerous idea that is more likely to result in a student being killed by mistake than to thwart a mass shooting. We instead support meaningful gun-safety regulations such as universal background checks and safe-storage measures, in addition to an assault weapons ban.

Cheer: State Sen. Rob Bradley, for introducing legislation to prevent "bundled" constitutional amendments from being placed on the ballot in the future.

Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican whose district used to include Alachua County, filed the measure for consideration in the legislative session that starts in March. It comes in response to the state Constitution Revision Commission combining a number of unrelated measures in amendments — such as bans on offshore oil drilling and vaping in workplaces — that voters passed in this fall's election.

Bradley's bill would require only single-subject amendments to be filed in the future. It's a good idea — although the commission doesn't meet again until 2037, so it would be a while before it has an impact.