The school shooting in Parkland, Florida, has sparked an urgent push for gun control, giving activists cautious hope that politicians might be willing to take some type of bipartisan action that has been elusive after previous mass shootings.
Student survivors, some of whom made terrifying videos of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last Wednesday as their classmates died, are now forcefully speaking out for gun control, demanding that not another student face a similar fate. They hope to be the catalyst that breaks entrenched positions on guns in U.S. society, and there appears to be some early movement in Washington.
President Trump said Monday that he is open to improving the background check system used to screen those who buy firearms, a measure that has bipartisan support and the backing of the National Rifle Association. Trump spoke about the legislation with one of its co-sponsors, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Friday.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said he supports gun violence restraining-order laws, which allow firearms to be seized before a person commits a violent act. The laws have been gaining conservative backers in the wake of the Parkland shooting, which killed 17 people, most of them teenagers.
“Trump’s support for the FixNICS Act, my bill with @JohnCornyn, is another sign the politics of gun violence are shifting rapidly,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., tweeted Monday, adding that the bill alone is not an adequate response to mass shootings.
Students are calling out politicians and the NRA on social media, on television and at rallies, demanding laws that will help keep guns out of the hands of people like Nikolas Cruz, the alleged gunman. Cruz, a 19-year-old who was known to be a risk for violence and who state officials knew intended to buy a gun, allegedly carried an assault-style rifle into the school on Valentine’s Day and opened fire. One student who survived the shooting vowed not to return to class until gun laws change.
Cruz had purchased at least 10 guns, including a variant of an AK-47, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation. While authorities are still looking into how he got his weapons, all of the ones they have traced so far were legally purchased, according to the official. Cruz legally bought the AR-15 assault-style rifle allegedly used in the shooting about a year ago, authorities said.
“At no point was he prohibited from possessing firearms based on his criminal history and background check,” the official said.
John Feinblatt, president of the gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, said he is hopeful that the shooting will spur bipartisan momentum on gun safety measures. He said the country expects its leaders to work together.
“But if they don’t, the states are going to take up where Congress lets off, and the American public is going to make sure we see a new Congress,” Feinblatt said. His group has a new campaign called Throw Them Out, with the goal of voting out politicians the group says are beholden to the gun lobby.
Five states – California, Washington, Oregon, Indiana and Connecticut – have passed gun violence restraining-order laws, which allow firearms to temporarily be taken away from people whom a judge deems a threat to themselves or others. Federally, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., introduced legislation last year urging states to adopt such laws.
At least 18 states, including Florida, have similar bills pending in their legislatures. It is unclear if such a law would have stopped Cruz from purchasing a weapon, especially since the Florida Department of Children and Families had determined that he was not a risk and Cruz had never been convicted of a crime.
Gov. Rick Scott said that “everything’s on the table” when it comes to considering tighter gun laws in Florida, although he did not give specifics, including whether he supports the restraining-order legislation. Florida has some of the nation’s laxest gun laws and a pro-gun legislature, and has long been seen as a laboratory for gun rights legislation that is later tested in other states.
Students from Douglas High have planned a rally at the Florida capitol in Tallahassee on Wednesday. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., said on ABC’s “This Week” that he commends the students for their activism.
“We’ve kind of inherited this world of binary choices where we either have to repeal the Second Amendment or have no gun safety regulations whatsoever, and younger generations of Americans don’t see the world that way,” Curbelo said, noting that he wants to strengthen the background check system and other measures.
“There are a lot of Republicans who are prepared to support reasonable, common-sense gun safety laws, new laws, stronger laws that protect rights for responsible citizens, people who are responsible gun owners, but will prevent those who want to do harm to innocent people from obtaining these weapons,” he said.
Many believe that the students from Douglas High are making the difference in the national conversation.
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