Florida Senate rejects ban on assault weapons, votes to arm teachers

 

Members of the Florida Senate watch as photos of the victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting are projected on the screen in their darkened chamber at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S., February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Colin Hackley

 

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) - The Florida Senate rejected a proposal to ban assault weapons, and voted for a measure to arm some teachers, weeks after 17 people were killed in the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history.

 

An amendment that would have banned assault weapons attached to a wider bill failed on Saturday in a largely party-line vote, in response to the Feb. 14 killing of 14 students and three faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Parkland.

 

The vote was 20-17 against the assault weapon ban, with two Republicans joining all of the senate's 15 Democrats in support of the proposal, the Miami Herald reported.

 

The full bill, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, is expected to pass the state Senate on Monday, then go to the Florida House.

 

After the Senate rejected the ban, Stoneman Douglas student Jaclyn Corin tweeted, "This breaks my heart, but we will NOT let this ruin our movement. This is for the kids."

 

Fellow classmate David Hogg, who has become one of the school's leading activists on gun safety, tweeted, "Elections are going to be fun!"

Also, an amendment to remove a provision to train and arm some teachers failed.

 

The bill raises the minimum age to buy a rifle or a shotgun to 21 from 18 and bans the use, sale or possession of bump stocks, which were used in the Oct. 1 shooting deaths of 58 people in Las Vegas. The device effectively turns semi-automatic weapons into automatics.

 

The bill includes $400 million in funding for schools to address mental health issues, the Herald reported.

 

Nikolas Cruz, the accused 19-year-old killer who was expelled from Stoneman Douglas, had a history of run-ins with the law and school officials. The Broward County school system and sheriff's department have been criticized for not acting on red flags on Cruz's mental health problems and potentially violent behaviour.

 

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-05

Band aid on a gaping wound. They're doing the minimum for political cover. Arming teachers is moronic. The NRA loves it. 

And when (not 'if') the next school shooting takes place, these same people will blame the teacher for not stopping it.

 

And when (not 'if') a student is accidentally shot by a teacher and/or a teacher's gun is used to kill someone, these same people will blame the teacher.

 

Jesus wept. 

just a few days ago thaivisa uploaded a link about a teacher shooting in school, and it wasn't even far from the massacre place

Expecting an overweight and underpaid public school teacher to obtain tactical weapons training to thwart a planned assault is futile and tragically comical.

Like much of the U.S, Florida's Senate is not responsible to citizens but to the corporations and wealth that provided their funds. Democracy?

They determined that the problem was not that we had too many guns, but that we did not have enough! And if we armed more people (the teachers) we will solve the problem.

Big party at the gun lobby tonight.

So now teaches will move around with a concealed weapon or holstered on like the gunslingers of the the wild west? and how long before a gun like this will be  mishandled, stolen or lost?  a moronic solution indeed....

Teachers will be coming to school in tanks at this rate !

You can't fix stupid

Totally and utterly bonkers

And just what would an armed cop do in a situation at a school, if confronted by an armed black guy in that school.....that happened to be a teacher?

Stupid people in the US government......

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The bill includes $400 million in funding for schools to address mental health issues

“Framing the conversation about gun violence in the context of mental illness does a disservice both to the victims of violence and unfairly stigmatizes the many others with mental illness,”

“More important, it does not direct us to appropriate solutions to this public health crisis.”

American Psychological Association President Jessica Henderson Daniel

http://time.com/5162927/mass-shootings-mental-health-apa/

So what's the action? Each Florida school hires a mental health professional to evaluate daily stability of students? Does that mean the State admitted that local and state public health officials failed in their evaluation of Cruz before the shooting but someone hired by schools will do better?

 

Yeah, the focus on mental illness is problematical. 99.99 plus percent of people with mental health issues are not a threat to other people, though a higher percentage are a threat to self harm. There is already a deep stigma about these issues. I think the right wing game of blaming it all on mental illness (and not GUNS) will be doing a lot more harm than good. 

Florida senators are doing what the NRA pays them to do, as opposed to what the people (they're supposed to represent) want.

Here are a few reasons why arming teachers will be problematic:

>>>  added costs

>>>  possible gun stolen

>>>  possible gun going off accidentally/misfires

>>>  ammo stolen

>>>  teacher getting angry at student(s)

>>>  students getting angry at teacher

>>>  mistaken identity in crisis, 'friendly fire' possible, as happens often in combat.

>>>  armed teacher will be first casualty, when baddies attack

 

I have an American friend who was raped at school when he was mid-teens.  It was by a male staff member working at the school he attended.   If a rapist is successful when unarmed, imagine how the job would be easier if armed with a handgun.

11 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

And when (not 'if') the next school shooting takes place, these same people will blame the teacher for not stopping it.

 

And when (not 'if') a student is accidentally shot by a teacher and/or a teacher's gun is used to kill someone, these same people will blame the teacher.

 

Jesus wept. 

Why would "Jesus" weep? Would this be the same "Jesus" that lets all these shootings and suffering of innocents in the world happen every second of every day? 

 

Dude...another great post, but why do you always have to ruin them with silly, nonsensical closings???

I like your post, but can't give it a "Like". 

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yeah, the focus on mental illness is problematical. 99.99 plus percent of people with mental health issues are not a threat to other people, though a higher percentage are a threat to self harm. There is already a deep stigma about these issues. I think the right wing game of blaming it all on mental illness (and not GUNS) will be doing a lot more harm than good. 

I wonder if the pro gun crazies are attempting to cure themselves ?

14 hours ago, HLover said:

Expecting an overweight and underpaid public school teacher to obtain tactical weapons training to thwart a planned assault is futile and tragically comical.

Sounds like a description of America in general ( your last four words )

The biggest problem they have over there is that they ( most ) believe the movies are real. You know the sort of things, USA cracked the enigma code, USA won the war in Vietnam, USA invented TV ( no, not Thaivisa )

2 hours ago, overherebc said:

Sounds like a description of America in general ( your last four words )

The biggest problem they have over there is that they ( most ) believe the movies are real. You know the sort of things, USA cracked the enigma code, USA won the war in Vietnam, USA invented TV ( no, not Thaivisa )

The invention of TV is interesting.  RCA's Sarnof tried to swindle the idea from the actual inventor who was from the midwest, and was a high schooler when he came up with the idea.  Do you have info that TV was invented outside the US?

Are all Florida residents whacko or just the senators?

Post in a foreign language removed.  

 

22 hours ago, Lungstib said:

Like much of the U.S, Florida's Senate is not responsible to citizens but to the corporations and wealth that provided their funds. Democracy?

These corporate lackeys MUST be voted out. Here are facts being sung.

 

USA! USA! USA!

15 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

And just what would an armed cop do in a situation at a school, if confronted by an armed black guy in that school.....that happened to be a teacher?

Stupid people in the US government......

I'd say they are more corrupt than stupid. They are bribed by corporate America. But the question for me is why do people continue voting for them? Maybe the voters are the stupid ones?

18 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yeah, the focus on mental illness is problematical. 99.99 plus percent of people with mental health issues are not a threat to other people, though a higher percentage are a threat to self harm. There is already a deep stigma about these issues. I think the right wing game of blaming it all on mental illness (and not GUNS) will be doing a lot more harm than good. 

And I just saw this. 

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/05/590920670/from-fraud-to-individual-right-where-does-the-supreme-court-stand-on-guns

I bet most Americans don't know this.

4 hours ago, selftaopath said:

I'd say they are more corrupt than stupid. They are bribed by corporate America. But the question for me is why do people continue voting for them? Maybe the voters are the stupid ones?

Many American voters are not only stupid, they're ill-informed and very easily duped by crazy shit they read online - particularly when that shit dovetails with their addictions (to guns) or prejudices (against people who have different ideas).

11 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

The invention of TV is interesting.  RCA's Sarnof tried to swindle the idea from the actual inventor who was from the midwest, and was a high schooler when he came up with the idea.  Do you have info that TV was invented outside the US?

Earliest I can find is January 1926.  John Logie Baird. Sent an image to another room in the same building. Luckily it was just a dummy head as the lights were so hot it went on fire.

Think he had a lot to do with the first colour tv system.

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

Earliest I can find is January 1926.  John Logie Baird. Sent an image to another room in the same building. Luckily it was just a dummy head as the lights were so hot it went on fire.

Think he had a lot to do with the first colour tv system.

We're a bit off topic so last post on this. It's a bit like the telephone in that a few people were working on similar ideas all around the same so everyone of them is going to claim the honour. 

Back on topic.

Scares the crap out of me thinking about arming teachers, why not just arm all the pupils as well.

On 3/5/2018 at 3:29 PM, boomerangutang said:

I have an American friend who was raped at school when he was mid-teens.  It was by a male staff member working at the school he attended.   If a rapist is successful when unarmed, imagine how the job would be easier if armed with a handgun.

That is the most stupid thing a person could come up with. A rapist is a rapist regardless whether armed or not. Rape is a crime of violence no matter how you put it.