parkland florida gun control
In this March 9, 2018 file photo, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signs the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser, File)
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Timing is everything. Or as George Tucker put it, “No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

“Parkland happened while we were in session, and I think there were a lot of members who felt like we had to do something from a political perspective based on the emotion of the time,” said Greg Steube, a Sarasota lawmaker who spent years in the Legislature before his November election to Congress. “If that shooting would have occurred when we weren’t in session, I don’t think you would have seen that type of bill passed. It was shoved through.”

Ironically, this year’s proposal to arm willing classroom teachers is the type of legislation that Steube tried for years to pass without success. Now, the idea is one of many recommended by a bipartisan panel created last year to investigate the Parkland shooting and prevent future incidents.

It’s also the type of proposal that gun-safety groups are fighting at the highest levels. In the same way that Florida further validated calls last year to ban bump stocks and create “red flag” laws allowing a judge to take guns away from someone with mental health issues, the Legislature could turn around this year and endorse President Donald Trump’s call to fight school shootings by giving teachers guns.

“I just don’t think that [gun-free zones] should be the law of Florida,” said Steube. “I don’t think people want to be sitting ducks waiting for law enforcement to show up and save them.”

– David Smiley in Florida returns to its Second Amendment roots after launching a gun-control movement

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43 COMMENTS

  1. “I think there were a lot of members who felt like we had to do something”
    Always it has been thus. Whether we call them Kings, Prime Ministers, Presidents, or Chiefs, It has always been easy for the Grand Poobah’s to rule mankind through lies. Why do they call it “Political Theater”? Because its all just a show.
    “In all ages the people of the world… have accepted words for deeds, for they are content with a show, and rarely pause to note… whether promises are followed by performance” -Protocols of Zion section 5, paragraph 8.
    For so long as this remains true, we, the citizens, shall be governed, not “by the people”, but “by the elite few”, the ones who put on the show.

    • Use a quote from Mein Kampf to support your argument next time. It’s a lot more subtle troll.

      What’s the frequency?

    • Poobah’s

      Really? You can’t tell the difference between possessive and plural and you expect people to pay attention to your post?

    • Typical….
      I agree with you, but these other comments are SO typical….
      SHUT IT DOWN…. THEY KNOW!!!! LOL
      To the other responders, stop being so stereotypical…. You give yourself away when you’re SO defensive… Lol… Trying to put someone else down to cover for your DISGUSTING TRICKERY

      • Dude, they’re there with you. Your Faraday cage has been compromised. Can’t you feel the worming in your head?

      • Wait, are you trying to claim he’s *not* quoting the Protocols of Zion to make it look like neo-Nazis (like, actual neo-Nazis) frequent this board & are tolerated? It’s a crap polemic version of 1984 with “da joos” instead of Big Brother.

        Assuming you aren’t the same poster with a different name –I don’t buy anybody defending this idiot besides himself.

        Your ass won’t block the radiowaves from reaching your brain, so you may as well pull your head out & get some air.

    • Does he even know “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is a confirmed forgery by the Tsarist era Okhrana secret police? It was published to justify another pogrom against Jews on Russia.

      And the Protocols aren’t even original with most being plagiarized from Machiavelli’s “The Prince”.

      • He definitely knows, he’s a troll trying to embolden 88ers around here. Hopefully the laugh-worthy response is enough to cause him to peddle his papers elsewhere for a while.

        • Not a one of you can even raise a single objection, other than some BS that you ‘heard’ somewhere, and can’t even remember where? Can anyone here list even a single source for all this ‘knowledge’ that you claim? Not a single person can add anything, other than ‘tinfoil hat maker’, or some such infantile gibberish?
          I guess insults and stupidity is just too much easier than a little thought, or remembering something what you ‘heard’, ‘somewhere’.
          Either way, I have little more to say. Esp. to trolls.
          “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” – Plato
          You all have lots to say, but I guess you just have to say something. Anything. Your hatred demands it of you. How sad for you. Enjoy your friends at BAMN and Antifa. They believe in forced censorship of others for no reason also. I’ll bet you don’t think they will use it against YOU, when they consider the time to be ripe. Good Luck. You will need it.
          Cheers (now you can jump to all sorts of ludicrous conclusions, based on a single word. Make all kinds of Brit remarks, etc. Even though they too, will mean nothing, since you have no knowledge base to draw upon.)

  2. Excerpt from The Patriot:

    Benjamin Martin : Would you tell me please, Mr. Howard, why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man’s rights as easily as a king can.

  3. As long as the Federal Government, State Governments and localities within the States, District of Columbia and U.S. Territories can enact Legislation that imposes infringements on the “right of the people to keep and bear Arms”, as forbidden by The Second Amendment, we will have this situation. Figure-out how to put a stop to this and we will resolve our Second Amendment issues once and for all. This would also correct a wider range of other tyrannies. Otherwise, we are just debating treating symptoms while the root cause disease kills the patient. The present tack might be entertaining day-to-day, but the inevitable end result is fatal to The Republic. Wise up.

  4. From the article :

    “Nationally, there are also signs that the momentum on gun safety is waning, even among Democrats. Guns have slid to the backburner among 2020 presidential candidates. A Washington Post analysis of social media content by 15 contenders found that, of all the issues studied, gun control ranked near the bottom in terms of discussion in the month of March despite the horrific shooting in New Zealand.”

    At least it stays on our radar for longer than it does their’s.

    Something with the attention span of a gnat is still annoying, though…

    • But, but, muh Trump had no choice but to steal their momentum & promote gun control! Same with Rick Scott in FL, they’d have been annihilated in 2018 if they hadn’t betrayed their most loyal base voters!

      • The only persons “betrayed” by the Fl law was anyone under 21 (exceptions for military and/or law enforcement) whom might want to purchase a semi auto rifle.. It does not preclude anyone of any age not already prohibited from possessing a firearm (convicted felons, the criminally insane etc.) from using a semi auto rifle, they just can’t buy one… As far as “bump stocks” are concerned you need to ask yourself honestly whether or not you would want to use one when you are in an actual firefight. Personally, nothing has changed, I have purchased two rifles, a handgun, a couple dozen high capacity magazines, a couple thousand rounds and renewed my concealed carry permit with no problem oh, and they opened the door for arming teachers as well as placing trained armed individuals in every school in the state… There have been a number of “real” gun control bills introduced in Fl since and none have seen the light of day. The spirit of the 2nd Amendment is alive and well in Fl at least for now as all those disgruntled “taxpayers” moving here from New York, New Jersey are slowly but surely turning the Sunshine State from Red to Blue and unfortunately we are in danger of becoming New-New York, and with Californians working really hard on Texas there will not be many “safe” places left. Guess we could always move to Montana, too much work to survive there for Dems….

        • Just because bump stocks & semi-autos & confiscation laws don’t apply to your personal Fudd concerns (today) doesn’t mean those laws weren’t a knife in the back of actual gun rights voters. Scott’s idiotic betrayal nearly cost him an election he had a 20% lead in when he signed the law.

          This isn’t some “no true scotsman” appeal or “virtue signal” issue; it’s gun control, pure & simple, being passed by figures who were elected in opposition to more gun control. What else would any pro-gun voter call it but betrayal? I already know that Fudds and other anti-gunners call it “reasonable,” “necessary,” and “inevitable”

        • BTW, you guys are already New New York. Your “pro-gun Republican” legislatures passed gun control onto you the instant they had an opening, after years of deliberate stalling on pro-gun bills, and so far have reaped no consequences at the ballot box.

          NY gun owners were likewise totally clueless about where their “allies” stood ahead of the SAFE Act.

          Now that Texas sees its Rep leaders stalling on constitutional carry & appointing democrats to head the relevant committees, we are starting to see the same pattern as well. However, we may be able to stop it since we bothered to look for that type of infiltration, instead of kicking back in self-assurance that “it can never happen here.” Not all Texans understand that, but many of us do.

        • You’re aware that our ‘bumpstock’ ban is excessively vague in its wording and could and would be used to ban anything with an aftermarket or tuned trigger as soon as the political wind shifts, right?

  5. So too did the Fascist Taliban in Vermont,however they are going to get it shoved back up their ,when the court rules it Repugnant to the Constitution.

  6. Important to note it was a Republican dominated house, Senate, and governor that gave us this gun control. Republicans, you know those people who say they support gun rights and if we vote for them they will stop all those evil plans the Democrats are hatching. They didn’t pass any of the pro gun laws open carry, campus carry, etc, purposely stifled them from the top down, and not only didn’t hold the line when it mattered, they targeted gun owners as the problem of Parkland. They would have done worse without a couple faithful senators and representatives, the Republican leaders were cool with a hasty voice vote to ban ARs with a two year moritorium. The “everything’s a bump stock, no grandfathering” was a voice vote too as I recall.

    With friends like these… Gun owners are actual criminals now.

    • (quote) “the Republican leaders were cool with a hasty voice vote to ban ARs with a two year moritorium. The “everything’s a bump stock, no grandfathering” was a voice vote too as I recall.” (end quote) What country do you live in where the legislature banned ARs with any moratorium because it sure did not happen in Fl. a bump stock is an accessory not required for the intended function of “any” rifle that even I found to be quite useless and actually can do more harm than good to the average AR (like warped and even melted barrels) if not used properly. I have installed very light single stage triggers on two of mine and they can be fired way faster than will ever be needed… You want a full auto weapon? Fill out a couple of forms and buy the stamp, get something that works properly..

      • Bravely said. However, many find a problem negotiating the leap from $300 to $20,000, for a toy. Meanwhile, you managed to avoid the actual problem, which is that shrugging off an obvious violation of 2A hastens the loss of the entirety of 2A, followed closely by loss of the Constitution and the nation. Oh, gee, can’t happen here, right?

        • Your concern is noted as is your reference to a ($20,000.00 “TOY”). 2A does not offer protection for toys, it was intended to backup a persons God given right to self defense against those whom would deprive them of their other God given rights as innumerated in the Bill of Rights (have you used or have you ever heard of a bump stock being used in a self defense situation) I see the bump stock more as a pursuit of happiness, expression of liberty thing. 2A has been interpreted as meaning the standard of the day, evolving as technology and abilities evolved and has been treated as such throughout time. 2A is safe, there are way too many groups keeping watch over those whom might attempt to make unlawful changes and the document itself provides the protection of two thirds majority in the House and Senate and three quarters of the states in consensus for ratification of any changes (that’s 34 states required for approval) (exception would be a Constitutional Convention of the States) that cannot happen AS LONG AS the balance of control remains in the hands of “true” constitutional conservatives. 14 states have already confirmed Constitutional carry, several more are considering it and a few have acknowledged no permit concealed carry and my concealed carry permit from Fl is accepted in 45 other states. Now, what happened in Florida actually saved us from much worse, if they had done nothing we would be facing a whole different animal in Tallahassee today. Instead of Desantis (R) we would be watching a true Socio/Communist at work, Gillum barely squeaked through the Dem primary due to an infusion of multiples of millions into his campaign at the last minute and the Soros money continued to flow in throughout the general. Desantis won by a few hundred votes after a lengthy and contentious recount and he enjoys the support of a Republican controlled legislature. Had they not done anything control of the legislature would most likely have changed color from red to blue and with the Gillum agenda on a roll you would have quickly learned what “REAL” gun control looks like, you think N.Y. and Ca are bad, Fl would be on a fast track to bankruptcy and every item on every progressive liberals “wish list” would be making it’s way through the Fl House and Senate right now with a Gov sitting patiently waiting with pen in hand ready to sign it all into law. Maybe the Fl reaction did not offer the best optics but it kept the state blue, allowed us to replace a far left liberal (true gun control advocate) with a Republican in the Senate and gave the courts something to keep them busy for awhile.. It’s all about the big picture.. As far as loss of 2A, the Constitution and the Nation? My friend take a look around, we have entire cities being taken over by people from other cultures, we have people in Congress whose loyalties obviously are not to the citizens of this country, we have schools hiring interpreters to help educate children from families who want the freedoms we offer but refuse to assimilate into our culture or even try to learn our language and we have allowed the term “politically correct” to override common sense. We are a victim of our own negligence. No one paid attention as the complexion of the country slowly changed (not a racial reference) and no one paid attention as outside influences began to change the voice of our Government. Donald Trump is the result of a too little too late reaction just as Obama was the reality check that put him in office, but I fear we have already breached the event horizon and the spiral has begun. Within 10 to 15 years (if Trump wins reelection) and sooner than later if he does not, we will either see an overtaking of our Federal government or be locked in a major violent conflict to stop it and we won’t just be fighting a few anarchists, communists and other assorted factions, they will have help from outside (Russia, China, Middle East) and we will eventually lose it all because in the end less than ten percent of the population will have the heart for a sustained conflict (hell only one percent are serving or have served in the military and only about 40 percent of those have ever seen combat) We have been infiltrated by a hostile foreign entity, we have given it voice and authority and we placed it in positions of power. We are a product of our own success and doomed by our own arrogance and indifference, whenever some “nutjob conspiracy theorist” spoke up they were shouted down or just ignored, the time to react was decades ago when everyone was more concerned about their lawns, what car the neighbor drove and how much money they made (you know, the good old days) I spent the “good old days” as an owner operator” trucker running the 48 contiguous and eastern Canada to support my Harleys and Women habit and like everyone else I was too busy in “pursuit of my personal happiness” earning a living and enjoying the fruits of my labor to care about anything else, so yeah I accept my share and as an old Vietnam vet and in spite of the treatment we received afterward I am willing to stand (and die if need be) in defense of what we as Americans have enjoyed throughout my lifetime to hopefully preserve it for future generations. You can’t put three strangers in room together and get them to agree on anything and I don’t expect you or anyone else here to agree with me, i do expect my right to say what I’ve said to be respected as I respect all others right to speak as well as offer a rebuttal. I’m done…

  7. Emotions are the reason to do anything! Isn’t that why so many people are in prison? Isn’t that why Cruz attacked the school?

  8. Voters in florida can start at the grass roots. Start by voting out school board members who are against allowing volunteer teachers to carry in school. You can start by voting out the broward county school board. Since they were all just REELECTED.

    It’s passed time for Guerrilla political warfare. Stop being so nice.

  9. I with this bill as long the teachers are properly trained and the gun are in safe that the teacher and officials know the combination.on top of taking a mental health screening.i also feel that every teacher should all be armed even if they only want to have just have less then lethal ie pepper spray,taser,baton but still have training and be certified,but each certification they should get some sort of bonus for each certification even the general public should have the same type of program.

    • ” the gun are in safe that the teacher and officials know the combination ”

      Which would defeat the whole purpose of arming teachers, which is to keep the body count as low as possible.

      No safes! The safest place to keep a pistol is in a holster on your hip.

  10. Long after we have all passed. Scientists of the future, if there is indeed a future with scientists, will have the most controversial and decisive debates regarding that obscure bipedal hominid commonly known in surviving records as “Florida Man”…-30-

    • Exactly.

      NM meets every year but every other year is only for 30 days for budgetary matters that can’t wait two years, which I think is a decent compromise. Colorado

      Professionalized legislatures are a nightmare. They run out of actual business to do and then start looking for more things to do to justify their existence. IIRC, NY as the first state to “professionalize” their legislature. It hasn’t worked out very well for the people of NY. You can see the same thing in Illinois.

      Interesting Cali has limits on their legislature that don’t fall into “being professionalized” but their session is like six or seven months a year depending on the year.

  11. They ‘did something’ to be politically correct. The MSM whipped all the the constituents in FL into an anti-gun frenzy with their non stop coverage begun with the sham town hall to crucify Rubio and Loesch. Relying on knee jerk emotional actions rather than facts is a common democrat tactic.

  12. Members of the Florida legislature distinguished themselves with respect to a couple of things.
    1. Their evident willingness to bow to media hype.
    2. Ditto respecting their collapsing before the onslaught of emotional hype.
    3. Ditto respecting their to evident willing to fold on important questions, in particular the question of constitutional rights. They are undeserving of the publically provided office space they occupy.

  13. Parkland can take any gun control laws and stick them up the ass of their ex amazing chief of beta police.

  14. Gov Scott is no better than Char;ie Crist. Bend with the wind. Lost my vote and will never get a lever pull from me again. Useless POS

  15. Arguing with fools is like trying to teach a pig good table manners, I hear a lot of crap about the Fl legislature but it all seems to be coming from a bunch of uninformed Yankees trying to stir it up a bit… If the Fl legislature had failed to act after Parkland we would have a full blown Socialist/Communist as our new Governor. Gillum wanted to start with a BAN on “All” assault style rifles and an immediate buy back and/or confiscation program, medicare for all was next, and then he was going after the schools, $15.00 minimum wage and all those big “Progressive” hit points (that’s why Soros jumped in with a few million bucks at the end of the primary, that Gillum was losing miserably until the check came in). Rick Scott is far from perfect but he is a long way from “Traitor Charlie” and the few little things he and the legislature did after Parkland saved us from seeing a lot of new faces in Tallahassee mostly Democrats and with them in charge and Gillum in the mansion Fl would have been “New York South” by the end of this year. So you know nothings and Liberal Trolls shooting off your mouths need to get a big screen so you can see the whole picture and actually “read the bill to know whats in it” instead of running your mouth without knowledge of the facts like true Libtards, even the NRA only put up a minimal fight over the legislation. One of you should actually cite the offending language in the bill that has stripped me of my 2nd Amendment rights, and what the hell is a FUDD? If it’s a Marine Vietnam Vet, Constitutionalist, Independent, Social Libertarian, gun owning, pro-small government, free thinking, God loving, “informed” voter/irredeemable Deplorable and everything else that you “Progressive Libtards are not then I must be one, otherwise don’t try to pin labels on someone you know absolutely nothing about…

  16. “It’s also the type of proposal that gun-safety groups are fighting at the highest levels.”

    Because deep down, the antis know they need senseless, preventable tragedies in order to continue pushing their agenda. Nothing happens without an overabundance of emotion. This is why they are vehemently against getting rid of gun-free zones, allowing teachers to arm themselves, and gun safety training for children.

  17. So when a criminal shoots and kills people in a gun free zone, idiot politicians’ solution is to disarm the law abiding citizen. Makes perfect sense: Make sure only the criminals and politicians are allowed to have the guns. Oh, I am sorry, I repeat myself.

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