Florida Republicans beat the gun lobby. Congress hasn't followed.

[FM123]

(Washington Post) In 2018, Florida banned weapons sales to those younger than 21, imposed a three-day waiting period and created a “red flag” law. Republicans doubt the same can happen at the federal level. After a teenage gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers inside a Texas elementary school Tuesday, Democrats on Capitol Hill quickly lamented Republican lawmakers’ years of intransigence on gun control.

“No matter the cause of violence and no matter the cost on the families,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday, “nothing seems to move them.” But that broadside wasn’t entirely accurate: Not long ago, GOP lawmakers bucked ferocious pressure from the National Rifle Association to pass significant new gun restrictions after a deadly school shooting, which were then signed into law by a fiercely conservative Republican.

It just didn’t happen in Washington.

Three weeks after 17 people were gunned down in 2018 inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed into law a bill that included provisions banning weapons sales to those younger than 21, imposing a three-day waiting period on most long-gun purchases, and creating a “red flag” law allowing authorities to confiscate weapons from people deemed to constitute a public threat.

snip

In a different political reality, what worked in Florida — a huge center-right state that is often seen as a bellwether of national political trends — might well be seen as a template for a national compromise to address mass acts of gun violence, such as Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde, Tex. Yet it’s not. Interviews this week with Republican senators revealed little stomach for the sort of sprawling bill that Florida Republicans passed in 2018. None said they are open to a federal waiting period. Some are curious about “red flag” laws but skeptical about their implementation on the federal level. And asked about age limits for rifle purchases, one key GOP negotiator, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) said, “I don’t think that’s on the table.”

(Read more) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/28/florida-gun-laws/

[jimfields33]

1. Florida for all it's warts, does some reasonable things once in awhile.

Congress should do what Florida did. It’s kept the state from another mass school shooting ever since. They should recognize that.

[Ray Bruns]

3. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

[crickets]

2. So frustrating. Try harder, Dems. At least TRY.

That any Democrat so much as hinted that they are 'open' to conversations about arming teachers has me reeling. Are you kidding me? As to leaving it up to the states, isn't that essentially what we have now? It isn't working.

no paywall link: https://archive.ph/q9P6o

[Ray Bruns]

4. The states can't pave roads.

[FM123]

8. Thank you for the no-paywall link!

[In It to Win It]

5. That's what normal politicians should do! Now let's see if the Court agrees

It's possible that SCOTUS will hear the case out of the 9th circuit striking down California's under 21 gun sales law. Hopefully, they uphold if they do hear the case.

[snowybirdie]

6. Why didn't they say

Our current governor is pushing for "Constitutional Carry" which will let anyone buy a gun? He'll likely get rid of these improvements we had once he's re-elected. Were going down hill, I'm afraid.

[Turbineguy]

7. I wonder at what point

we see people simply staying home rather than feel they are taking a risk going out.

I had a job in Florida for a few years. Part-time teaching. I would fly from Seattle and back 5-6 times per year. My class was hard and people failed their exams. There were a large number of nutjobs to contend with. I never brought up politics,, but they knew I was from the left coast. Students read gun magazines in class and it was normal to see people wearing NRA attire.

Bit by bit Florida was creeping toward making it easier to shoot people. It was already illegal for somebody who was shot as a bystander in a gunfight to sue for damages.

Just before trump was put in the White House in 2016, I quit that job.