Rep. Brian Mast calls for ban on future assault rifle sales after Parkland shooting

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, a Palm City Republican, wants to ban future sales of assault rifles like the one he carried while serving in the Army in Afghanistan.

In a column appearing Friday on The New York Times website, Mast calls for defining "what constitutes an assault or tactical firearm and not allowing them for future purchase — just as we already prohibit the purchase of fully automatic firearms."

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Mast said he would not support "any version of a ban that results in confiscating existing, legally owned firearms."

Mast also calls for:

Background checks on every firearm purchaser.

Banning the sale of "accessories and add-ons that circumvent the ban on automatic firearms."

Increasing the minimum age for buying "various categories of firearms," without mentioning specifics.

Making sure people who have been detained for mental illness or ordered by a court to receive treatment for mental illness, cannot buy firearms.

Ensuring possible terrorists, determined "through a system of due process," can't buy a firearm.

Making sure anyone "threatening to shoot or blow up a school, in word or on social media, is placed on an FBI watch list for a long time."

More: TCPalm Editorial Board calls for assault rifle sales ban

Mast's column comes slightly more than a week after 17 people were killed by a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland near Fort Laurderdale.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, who's been charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder, legally bought the AR-15 he allegedly used in the shooting.

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The M4 carbine rifle he carried in Afghanistan, Mast said, "was very similar to the AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon used to kill students, teachers and a coach I knew at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where I once lived."

Mast, who lost both his legs in an explosion while serving as a bomb technician, said the community is "not made safer by any person having access to the best killing tool the Army could put in my hands.

"I cannot support the primary weapon I used to defend our people being used to kill children I swore to defend."

Just a week ago, Mast seemed to blame violence in movies and video games, lax school security and the FBI's failure to investigate tips about Cruz's potential for violence as causes of the shooting in Parkland.

In an interview on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, the congressman said "Call of Duty," a series of 15 video games with shooting in various settings, and "John Wick," a movie about a former hit man seeking revenge from thugs who stole his car and killed his dog, "desensitized" people to killing.

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A longtime member of the National Rifle Association, Mast received $4,950 from the NRA during the 2016 election, more than any other House member from Florida's that cycle.

The gun rights advocacy group vehemently opposes an assault rifle ban.

Mast said he often carries a concealed 9mm pistol "because I know the threats, and I don’t want to die because I am unprepared to return fire."

His pistol, he said, is no match for the long range of an AR-15 assault rifle like the one used at Stoneman Douglas High School.

"No firearm is evil," Mast wrote. "Guns are tools that fulfill the intent of their users, good or bad. But we’ve seen that the rifle of choice for many mass shooters is the AR-15."

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Mast called the Second Amendment "unimpeachable" but not all-encomassing: "It guarantees the right of citizens to defend themselves. I accept, however, that it does not guarantee that every civilian can bear any and all arms."

Countering the argument that banning assault rifle sales won't end mass shootings, Mast wrote, "Not being able to control everything, however, should not prevent us from doing something."

In an apparent reference to possible political backlash, Mast said he tried to save lives without worrying "about becoming a casualty myself. ... I don’t fear becoming a political casualty, either. If we act now by changing laws surrounding firearms and mental illness, we, too, can save lives."

Mast was first elected to represent Florida's 18th Congressional District in 2016. This year he faces challenges from two Democrats:

Lauren Baer, a former foreign relations adviser in the Obama administration living in Palm Beach Gardens.

Pam Keith, a Palm Beach County attorney and Navy veteran.

The seat, which represents all of Martin and St. Lucie counties and northern Palm Beach County, is among dozens of hotly contested swing districts nationwide Democrats hope to flip from red to blue Nov. 6.

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In questions posed by TCPalm shortly after the Parkland shooting, neither Democrat called for an assault rifle ban, but:

Baer said she favors background checks on all gun sales and banning criminals and domestic abusers from buying or obtaining guns.

Keith said she favors restricting gun sales to people with mental health issues and domestic violence accusations, universal background checks on gun purchases and a ban on "bump stock" devices that transform semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic.

Mast spokesman Brad Stewart declined to comment on Mast's column: "It speaks for itself."

Stewart didn't know when the congressman's column will appear in the print version of The Times.

More: Read Mast's column in online edition of The New York Times

More: Complete Parkland shooting coverage