Advertisement

Florida lawmaker wants to repeal gun laws passed after Parkland shooting

He believes the measures wouldn't have prevented the shooting.

The National Armory gun store in Pompano Beach, FL.  (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The National Armory gun store in Pompano Beach, FL. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A Florida state representative is trying to repeal the very gun control provisions he voted for after a gunman claimed the lives of 17 students and faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The legislation, which was signed into law by Governor Rick Scott (R) just three weeks ago, included a number of commonsense gun laws including raising the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21, imposing a mandatory three-day waiting period on gun purchases, and a ban on bump stocks.

Now state Rep. Randy Fine is attempting to take it all away. He plans on filing three bills ahead of Florida’s next legislative session to reverse the state’s decision.

According to Florida Today, the lawmaker said he voted on the bill because of other provisions in the legislation like the inclusion of a school guardian program that would arm school employees and $400 million dollars for mental health counseling.

Advertisement

“The bill was a 105-page package and there are aspects of it we don’t like,” Fine said. “There might be someone else who files an appeal to the guardian program. Bills change and laws change over time.”

Fine believes control measures like a higher minimum age or mandatory waiting period would not have prevented the Parkland shooter from committing his crime.

“The fallacy of gun control laws is that they work,” he said.

In the case of bump stocks, the device that alters semi-automatic weapons to fire like an illegal automatic weapon, Fine argues that most people who own a bump stock aren’t mass shooters.

“We don’t make cars illegal because drunk drivers use them to kill people,” Fine said.

Fine’s arguments appear to fall in line with those of the National Rifle Association (NRA), which sued the state of Florida after the bill was signed into law for the same measures Fine is attempting to repeal. The NRA claims the bill “punishes law-abiding gun owners for the criminal acts of a deranged individual,” and threatens the second amendment rights of 18- and 20-year-olds.