To little surprise, the National Rifle Association’s solution to last month’s school massacre in Florida has been to push for more guns in more places — and the sentiment is gaining traction in a number of Republican-controlled state capitols.
A heated national debate ensued after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, armed with a legally-purchased AR-15 assault rifle, stormed into his old high school in Parkland, Fla., and killed 17 people.
Federal gun control bills have stalled in Congress in the wake of the bloodbath due to Republican refusal to address the issue via legislation.
While Republicans in Congress have blocked gun control efforts, their counterparts in statehouses across the country are quietly trying to pass NRA-backed bills that will expand access to firearms. Some Republicans are even citing the Parkland shooting as a reason for why Americans need more guns.
Over the weekend, Florida’s GOP-controlled Senate killed an amendment that would’ve outlawed assault rifles like the one Cruz used to kill students and faculty at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Instead, the Senate voted in favor of including a provision that will allow some teachers in the Sunshine State to carry guns in school.
The full bill, named the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, was expected to pass the full Senate Monday. It will then go to the House, where it is also expected to pass. Meanwhile, elected officials in Broward County, where Stoneman Doulas is located, are trying to revoke a state law that calls for local politicians to be removed from office and face personal legal fines if they support legislation that limits the sale or use of guns.
All the while, the NRA continues to push hard for 15 pro-gun measures across 10 other states.
In the wake of the Parkland shooting, NRA’s CEO Wayne LaPierre accused gun control-pushing “socialists” of politicizing the issue.
“They don’t care about our schoolchildren,” LaPierre exclaimed from the stage of the Conservative Political Action Conference last month. “They want to make all of us less free.”
Among the bills that the NRA are backing on state levels is one in Oklahoma that will allow residents to carry firearms without any type of permit. The bill, which the NRA praises as an “important” piece of “self-defense legislation,” passed a House committee on Sunday and is now up for a full floor vote.
A bill passed the South Dakota state House on the same day as the Parkland shooting that exempts private educational institutions and churches from legislation that bans guns in schools. The Senate passed the same bill last week.
In Indiana, GOP Rep. Jim Lucas recently introduced an amendment to a bill that proposes to allow residents to carry guns in school and churches. Citing the Parkland shooting, Lucas said the bill didn’t go far enough and proposed expanding it so that it also ensures that people can pack heat in all state-owned buildings, including statehouses.
Last week, Tennessee GOP Rep. Andy Holt began pushing a new bill that would guarantee residents the right to carry weapons in airports. A provision tucked into the bill would bar local jurisdictions from passing legislation that would impede it.
As state Republicans continue to do the NRA’s bidding, the powerful gun lobby’s leadership is celebrating the Virginia General Assembly killing a string of what they call “dangerous” bills, such as one proposing mandatory background checks on all gun purchases. Other bills that the NRA cheered getting voted down included one proposing to ban bump stocks and high-capacity magazines and another one that would mandate residents to report when a firearm has been lost or stolen.
While some states appear determined to quash any and all gun control measures, others are doing what they can to implement them.
In New York, state Democrats tried to force votes on a handful of bills last week, including ones proposing to ban bump stocks and beef up background checks. But the Republican-ruled Senate blocked the bills from consideration.
California lawmakers introduced a dozen new gun control bills last week, including one that aims to raise the legal sales age for purchasing long guns and rifles to 21.
To the NRA’s ire, the Oregon state Senate became the first since the Parkland shooting to pass a gun control bill. The bill, which was backed by the state’s Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, bans residents who are under restraining orders or have been convicted of stalking or domestic violence from purchasing or owning weapons and ammunition.
With News Wire Services