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Florida Republican can’t explain why state lawmakers prioritized pornography over gun violence

"Stop going back to your talking points sir, stop," a CNN host urged Florida Rep. Matt Caldwell.

CREDIT: SCREENGRAB
CREDIT: SCREENGRAB

During a CNN interview on Wednesday, Florida Rep. Matt Caldwell (R) couldn’t explain why Florida Republicans refused to even discuss implementing an assault weapons ban on Tuesday — the same day the state’s Republican-controlled House declared pornography to be a public health crisis.

“Representative Caldwell, why is pornography a bigger health risk than semi-automatic weapons in the hands of a deranged individual?” host Brooke Baldwin asked him, referring to the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last Wednesday that has sparked new calls for AR-15s to be banned, and inspired survivors of the shooting to travel to the state capital of Tallahassee on Wednesday to demand gun restrictions.

But Caldwell wouldn’t answer the question.

“Listen, we have got to focus on what is really going to make a difference, and having a blanket ban–” Caldwell said, before Baldwin cut him off and restated her question.

Caldwell again dodged.

“Listen, I believe — we shouldn’t have weapons in the hands of deranged individuals,” he said, before alluding to concerns he has that the process used by Democratic lawmakers to try and reopen debate about an assault weapons ban was a departure from precedent.

Baldwin, however, wasn’t having it.

“Stop going back to your talking points sir, stop,” she said. “I don’t think these people are asking for their guns to be taken away, they are asking for you to consider a conversation — a consideration of a ban of a weapon used in war, instead of having it in the hands of a deranged individuals which we have witnessed in so many shootings in this country. Why won’t you have that conversation?”

Caldwell replied that he “had that conversation with the Parkland students today, we’re going to have that conversation in committee through the process that we use for every bill that we’ve ever passed through the House and off the floor. We’re not going to circumvent that process for any bill.”

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But he then alluded to the real reason he’s reluctant to talk about gun control — like President Trump and many other prominent Republicans, Caldwell thinks more guns are the solution to gun violence.

“We don’t have an ability for people to be able to defend themselves in our schools, ” Caldwell said. “Our schools are targeted because they are gun-free zones, because no one on the campus is able to defend themselves. It’s why why you don’t have this violence happen in other places, and why it exclusively seems to happen in places where people can’t defend themselves.”

While Caldwell was being interviewed on CNN, young protesters — including survivors of the Parkland school shooting — were occupying the office of Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) and demanding that he do something about gun violence.

One of Scott’s staffers initially told the activists that the governor was “too busy” to meet with them, but his office later changed course and told MSNBC Scott would meet with “small groups of students, for 20 minutes each” starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

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Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature may have signaled with their actions on Tuesday that lawmakers are unwilling to consider gun control measures, but there are signs that activism is having an impact.

Politico reports that while an AR-15 ban may not be on the table, “behind the scenes, Florida’s House leaders were discussing backing legislation calling for age restrictions and waiting periods for the purchase of guns typically characterized as assault rifles — a sign of how the [Parkland] shooting has roiled the politics of gun ownership in Florida.”