Blog live — 6:35 p.m.
The Florida Legislature special Saturday session continues to struggle with crafting a gun law that a majority of the Senate can support. It has been a crazy day that event saw according to Politico Florida “accidentally,” passing an amendment that would put a moratorium of sales on AR-15 rifles.
Many in Tallahassee and Washington thought at the end of Saturday, which could be pushed into early Sunday, but most feel the upper chamber will have a bill that will be sent to the House.
SB 7026, “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act,” has the support of most Republicans and even a couple Democrats. But as of 6 p.m. Saturday, March 3rd a bill that could get enough votes to pass is still up in the air, at least for now.
Anything passed by the Senate tonight, or early Monday it will likely be totally be reshaped in the lower chamber. At the moment powerful Land ’O Lakes Republican House Speaker Richard Corcoran working to get support for his proposal known as HB 7101.
Corcoran is a leading supporter of school marshals — arming trained teachers and staffers — and he calls the bill a “game changer … a giant step forward in school safety.”
That is the $67 million controversial plan that not only has strong pushback in the state but nationally. Of note also is that this has now become an international story.
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Rick Scott is against that plan and right now Corcoran is shy of the votes needed to get his bill passed. As for Scott, his problem is that his measure calls for a raising of the age to buy a long gun from 18 to 21, that is a non-starter many Republicans in the House.
According to Florida Politics, the latest form of the Senate bill includes a 3-day waiting period – with some exceptions – to buy any firearm; a waiting period now applies only to handguns. It also raises the age to purchase all firearms in Florida from 18 to 21. And it creates a commission to make recommendations on school safety. Its first meeting could be as early as this June.
