The NRA immediately responded to the new law with the announcement that it had filed a lawsuit against Florida — specifically directed at state Attorney General Pam Bondi — on Friday. The gun advocacy group claimed the age change in the state’s gun laws infringed on adults’ rights to own firearms, calling it “a blatant violation of the Second Amendment.”
Student activists from the school where the shooting took place followed the bill’s track closely and called it “a baby step.”
“STEP ONE,” tweeted Cameron Kasky,a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and organizer of the March For Our Lives demonstration, about Scott’s signing of the bill.
Kasky included a simple “Good job” in his post.
But other student activists were less celebratory. David Hogg, another survivor and organizer, tweeted that people should not forget that Scott, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. and Florida state Rep. Elizabeth Porter “are STILL taking money from the NRA.”
“The only reason they took action is because we did,” Hogg said in his post.
The suspect in the Douglas High shooting, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, legally bought the AR-15 rifle he allegedly used to gun down his victims, most of them students, according to authorities.
He’d been expelled from the school for disciplinary reasons, and police and court records revealed a long history of complaints about his behavior in the weeks and months leading up to the attack. The missed signs also included tips to the FBI.
Scott stressed the role of compromise in the measure’s passage. He acknowledged that he didn’t agree with arming teachers, but was satisfied with a provision that allowed local communities to opt out. And he said he also didn’t see the point of extending waiting periods for gun purchases, because “it wouldn’t have had an impact on” the Parkland killer.
Scott also said he did not agree with a proposal, supported by many of the survivors, to ban certain types of semi-automatic rifles, like the AR-15. The new law does not include any such measure.
“I think rather than ban specific weapons, we need to ban specific people from having any weapon,” Scott said.
ANTHONY CUSUMANO, GABE GUTIERREZ and ASSOCIATED PRESS
Article Appeared @https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-governor-signs-school-safety-bill-could-arm-teachers-n855311