Rubio pushes for Florida style gun control federally
Rubio pushes federal red-flag bill on firearms - Sun Sentinel
Excerpt: Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is reintroducing a bill that seeks to encourage states to pass red-flag laws that would make it easier for courts to disarm dangerous people.
The measure has garnered bipartisan support in the wake of the Feb. 14 Parkland massacre that left 17 people dead.
Florida state lawmakers passed a red-flag law after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Rubio’s bill, reintroduced on Thursday, would provide federal funding to help other states implement similar laws.
“This idea has already proven successful in states like Florida, and it is my hope that this bill will get all the other states in the country to do the same thing,” Rubio said in a prepared statement.
Florida’s law allows law enforcement to petition a court to bar dangerous people from purchasing or possessing guns.
Rubio first introduced the bill in March, but it did not pass. Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson also supported the bill. Nelson lost his re-election bid to outgoing Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who signed Florida’s measure into state law.
Bottom Line: After the November elections when it became clear that we’d have divided congressional control that would clearly be bitterly divided (and immediately has proven to be) – I mentioned there were two issues that had a better chance of passing as a result of the change in congress. Gun control was one of them (with infrastructure being the other).
It’s clear that Marco Rubio has made this a top priority of his taking the first available opportunity to reintroduce the bill and will soon be joined by the Governor who signed comprehensive reforms into place in Florida. Clearly Democrats have long called for increased gun control and with Republican controlled Florida having passed reforms last year, a President who has taken executive action to ban bump stocks already and Senators Rubio and Scott leading an effort in the Senate – there's a chance reforms may gain momentum.