Brevard Rep. Randy Fine to file bills to repeal gun control from Parkland law

A Brevard County lawmaker wants to repeal gun control provisions from the law he voted for to address the Parkland shooting, saying those would not have prevented the massacre.

Republican state Rep. Randy Fine said he's going to file three bills ahead of next year's session to reverse the Legislature's decision to raise the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21, impose a three-day waiting period on gun purchases and to ban bump stocks. He announced this during a FLORIDA TODAY town hall on school safety Wednesday.

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Fine said he voted on the 105-page bill because there were other provisions he supported, such as the school guardian program to arm school employees and the $400 million for more mental health counseling, school resource officers and to enhance school security.

"The bill was a 105-page package and there are aspects of it we don’t like," Fine said. "There might be someone else who files an appeal to the guardian program. Bills change and laws change over time."

Fine, who represents southern Brevard, said people ages 18 to 20 are adults and should be considered so to buy a gun. The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit against the state alleging the law violates the Second Amendment rights of people under 21.

Shooter Nikolas Cruz was 19 when he opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, killing 17 people with an AR-15 he legally purchased. Fine said he doesn't believe an age minimum would have stopped Cruz from purchasing the weapon illegally.

"The fallacy of gun control laws is that they work," he said.

Fine said he wants to repeal the three-day waiting period and the bump stock ban because they "didn’t have anything to do with Parkland."

Bump stocks, however, were used by the gunman who killed 58 people at a Las Vegas concert last year. The devices alter semi-automatic weapons to fire like automatic weapons, which are illegal in the U.S.

Fine said despite Vegas, most people who use bump stocks are not mass shooters.

"We don’t make cars illegal because drunk drivers use them to kill people," Fine said.

More: Why lawmakers and polls differ on gun control after mass shootings | Rangel

Fellow Republican, Brevard state Rep. Thad Altman, said he's open to revisiting the age minimum and the three-day period to exempt people who have FBI security clearance, for example. But he said he's against an outright repeal of such provisions and the Legislature must do what it can to keep weapons away from the wrong people.

"I think it’s premature to talk about changing it in any way," Altman said. "We have a whole year to talk about it and think of ways to make it better."

Altman also is against repealing the ban on bump stocks and pointed to Las Vegas as one of the reasons.

"I don’t see any real purpose of having bump stocks," Altman, of Indialantic, said. "You alter a weapon in a way that’s not necessary."

The gun control provisions under Senate Bill 7026 were groundbreaking for Florida's Legislature, which in recent years has voted to expand access to guns and has some of the most pro-gun laws in the country. The state is considered a breeding ground for NRA-backed policies under the leadership of longtime lobbyist Marion Hammer, who has drafted legislation supported by Republican leadership.

One of the NRA's biggest assets is its ability to motivate single-issue, pro-gun voters and to pony up primary challengers against Republicans who don't fall in line with the organization.

Fine said he expects his repeal legislation to gain support from 12 House Republicans who voted against the bill and who are up for re-election this year. One of them is Vero Beach state Rep. Erin Grall. The November elections will happen before the Legislature goes into session in March 2019.

Fine said the bill's opponents argued the gun control parts of it violated the Second Amendment. He doesn't believe that's the case but thinks the measures are "a bad idea."

Republican Senate President Joe Negron, who helped usher SB 7026, has said he supports the gun provisions in the bill.

“I think there was a full, fair and thoughtful debate on those issues during session, and the House, Senate and governor reached common ground on a response to safety in our schools," the Treasure Coast Republican said. "Obviously, any legislator in a subsequent session can ask for actions of a previous Legislature to be reviewed, and I respect that process. I personally support the law that we passed and was signed into law by Gov. Scott.”