Tag: Florida

President Trump’s reelection campaign on Saturday used an image of a survivor of the recent Florida school shooting in an email asking for donations from its supporters. The email led with an image of Trump and first lady Melania at the bedside of Madeleine Wilford, 17, who was injured in the shooting. The same photo had been shared on Trump’s official Instagram last week. "The nation has turned its attention to the senseless school shooting in Parkland, Florida," the email read. President Trump is taking steps towards banning gun bump stocks and strengthening background checks for gun purchasers,” the email continued. CNN first reported on the email. The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment. Trump and the first lady had visited survivors of the shooting in Florida last Friday. Seventeen people were killed after a gunman targeted Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The president also met with student survivors during a meeting at the White House, where the students pushed for action to prevent further massacres.

When the Founders first wrote and passed what we know call the Second Amendment, they viewed the Constitution in an entirely different way than most people do today. Most laws were passed at the state and local levels, and state constitutions determined the limits of those laws, including gun laws. Following the passage of the 14th Amendment—which reads, in part, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States”—some courts began determining that at least some of the federal Bill of Rights applies to the states as well. For most issues, Americans are willing to accept such a model. Either left-wing states and their citizens will have to continue living in a nation in which guns are constitutionally protected, or they’ll have to change the Constitution to ban most or all types of guns from being owned. Unfortunately for gun advocates, left-wingers don’t need an amendment to gut the Constitution of its firearms protections. After all, liberals already have four justices on the bench who would likely approve of a law creating radical restrictions on gun rights, and the Court’s swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, is 81 years old. The United States needs a new amendment governing gun rights, and the only amendment that would likely have any chance of being approved would be one that returns the Second Amendment to the position the Founders envisioned, when it only applied to federal law. This, coupled with clarifying language that makes it more difficult for federal authorities to restrict gun rights, would permit states to issue stricter gun bans, assuming their state constitutions allow it. But it would also ensure citizens in states where guns are valued—which, by the way, is most states—are guaranteed from ever having their gun rights taken from them by a Supreme Court controlled by left-wing justices.

But for years, it was a tug of war neither side was really winning – we lived in an odd middle ground where the rope moved only a matter of inches in either direction because both sides were constrained, to one degree or another, by precedent and the plain language of the Constitution. On economics, conservatives tend to do well. That CNN town hall on guns was a Nuremburg rally against the Second Amendment and the concept of individual liberty in the name of fear. The town hall, and countless other media outlets, have featured kids from the school blaming the National Rifle Association and Republicans for the murder of their classmates. They’ve allowed this assertion to be repeated, unchallenged, every time it has been made. Adults are supposed to correct children, it’s how they learn. The Sheriff of Broward County, Scott Israel, sat on CNN and accused the NRA of responsibility for the massacre while he knew not one of his officers was on-site during the shooting, but four of them, heard the shots, and did nothing. (What are you going to do, offer to be partially dead? As long as Democrats want to play the blame game to score political points, Republicans should act as though they don’t exist. Why did a Democrat sheriff ignore the warnings and blame others?

Florida Governor Rick Scott announced on Friday that he wants to raise the age limit in the state for buying a firearm to the age of 21, just one week after a 19-year-old shot allegedly 17 people at a high school in the state. Scott also said Florida would completely ban bump stocks, which dramatically increase semi-automatic weapons’ potential rate of fire, and prohibit the mentally ill from accessing weapons. “There will be exceptions for active duty, reserved military and spouses, national guard members and law enforcement.” Scott’s announcement was part of his comprehensive plan to address school safety in the wake of last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The plan, which he said he wanted to implement within the next two weeks, covers gun laws, school safety, and mental health. (While the students were there, the Florida House declined to take up legislation to ban assault rifles.) “This is a time when I believe we must come together and even cross party lines,” said Scott. He said the state would create a program called the “violent threat restraining order,” which would prohibit a mentally ill person from buying a weapon when law enforcement or a family member provides evidence to the court of a threat of violence involving any weapons. “Government does not have to be slow or lethargic,” he said. “When it comes to protecting our kids we need to be swift and decisive.” Scott, who is strongly considering a run for Senate, had received criticism in the wake of the shooting after he declined to initially address gun control measures, and failed to appear at the Wednesday’s CNN town hall with survivors of the shooting. He is a member of the National Rifle Association, who had given him an A+ rating for his pro-gun stances, and noted in in 2014 that he had signed “more pro-gun bills into law — in one term — than any other Governor in Florida history.” The NRA did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Today in 5 Lines Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign aide, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements, and agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the election. Mueller also issued new charges against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, alleging he secretly paid former European politicians to lobby on behalf of Ukraine. During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, President Trump criticized the armed officer who failed to stop the gunman in last week’s mass shooting at a Florida high school, and doubled down on his suggestion to arm teachers. The Trump administration imposed its largest package of sanctions ever against North Korea. Today on The Atlantic Bring Back Asylums? : This week, President Trump proposed reopening mental asylums as a solution to America’s gun-violence problem. It’s not the worst idea. (Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post) ‘I’m Completely Disgusted’: The Broward County Sheriff’s Office revealed a series of failures by the department in preventing the fatal shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. In the wake of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, some have argued for a reinstatement of the nationwide ban on assault weapons, while others have suggested that the solution lies in improving access to mental-health care. This week, we asked whether you want to see specific reforms to address mass shootings in the U.S. An overwhelming majority of you wrote in support of reinstating a ban on semi-automatic weapons, strengthening background checks, and raising the minimum age of firearm purchase.

US companies are distancing themselves from the National Rifle Association as the gun lobby comes under increasing pressure following the mass shooting in Florida last week. The car rental firm had offered discounts to NRA members. The move came after Best Western and Wyndham Hotels, which had offered discounts to NRA members, confirmed they had cut ties with the group after a social media campaign using the hashtag #BoycottNRA targeted them and others. Insurer Chubb has also dropped cover for NRA Carry Guard insurance, which insures gun owners for legal and other costs if they shoot someone and claim self-defense. Pressure group Everytown for Gun Safety, which has been pressing for Chubb to end the coverage for months, applauded the move. On Friday, one of the survivors of the shooting, 17-year-old David Hogg, who has become a powerful voice in the push for stricter gun laws, joined the debate and urged FedEx to stop its relationship with the NRA. Wyndham “is no longer affiliated with the NRA”, the hotel group said on Twitter. In an email to the Guardian, the chain said it ended its relationship “late last year”. Best Western, which has recently offered perks to NRA members, tweeted that it “does not have an affiliation with and is not a corporate partner of the National Rifle Association”. Other companies that have announced they have severed ties include Enterprise Rent–A–Car, which owns Enterprise, Alamo and National, and First National Bank of Omaha, which announced it would end a Visa credit card it offered with NRA branding.

Earlier Thursday morning, Trump went the furthest he’s ever gone on gun control, saying in a tweet he’d push for tougher background checks that screen for mental health, raising the minimum age of buyers to 21, and ending the sale of bump stocks. Trump told state and local officials at the White House for a discussion of school safety that “you can’t hire enough security guards” to protect shooters but “you could have” firearms “concealed on teachers” and “nobody would know who they are.” The president heaped praise on the NRA, which has been one of the most powerful political opponents to gun control measures, just minutes before its chief executive officer, Wayne LaPierre, took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference. LaPierre proceeded to blast school officials, local law enforcement and the FBI for failing to prevent school shootings. Trump said in a tweet earlier Thursday that 20 percent of teachers “would now be able to immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this.” Gun stocks rose Thursday after declining the two prior days. The NRA also spent $500,000 or more on 7 Senate races, including in battleground states Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin. Trump was endorsed by the NRA and has routinely touted his support for the organization, and his campaign said he opposed expanding the background check system or imposing new restrictions on gun and magazine bans. His support for arming teachers would eliminate the gun-free zones in and around schools enshrined in a nearly three-decade-old federal law. A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday found 97 percent support for universal background checks, while 67 percent backed a ban on the sale of assault weapons. Everytown for Gun Safety advocates for universal background checks and other gun control measures.

Earlier Thursday morning, Trump went the furthest he’s ever gone on gun control, saying in a tweet he’d push for tougher background checks that screen for mental health, raising the minimum age of buyers to 21, and ending the sale of bump stocks. Trump told state and local officials at the White House for a discussion of school safety that “you can’t hire enough security guards” to protect shooters but “you could have” firearms “concealed on teachers” and “nobody would know who they are.” The president heaped praise on the NRA, which has been one of the most powerful political opponents to gun control measures, just minutes before its chief executive officer, Wayne LaPierre, took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference. LaPierre proceeded to blast school officials, local law enforcement and the FBI for failing to prevent school shootings. Trump said in a tweet earlier Thursday that 20 percent of teachers “would now be able to immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this.” Gun stocks rose Thursday after declining the two prior days. The NRA also spent $500,000 or more on 7 Senate races, including in battleground states Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin. Trump was endorsed by the NRA and has routinely touted his support for the organization, and his campaign said he opposed expanding the background check system or imposing new restrictions on gun and magazine bans. His support for arming teachers would eliminate the gun-free zones in and around schools enshrined in a nearly three-decade-old federal law. A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday found 97 percent support for universal background checks, while 67 percent backed a ban on the sale of assault weapons. Everytown for Gun Safety advocates for universal background checks and other gun control measures.

A Florida state lawmaker’s aide was fired late Tuesday, hours after he claimed two survivors of last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Fla., who had appeared on television were actors. Benjamin Kelly, an aide to state Rep. Shawn Harrison (R), emailed a Tampa Bay Times reporter after students Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg appeared on CNN to call for legislation to curb gun violence. According to Tampa Bay Times reporter Alex Leary, the staffer emailed him, saying, "Both kids in the picture are not students here but actors that travel to various crisis when they happen." About an hour later, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran (R) tweeted that he fired Kelly. “On behalf of the entire Florida House, I sincerely apologize to the students targeted and again commend them for their courage through this unspeakable tragedy,” Corcoran tweeted. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Kelly himself later tweeted that his comments should not reflect on Harrison, and that he had erred in trying to “inform a reporter.” “I meant no disrespect to the students or parents of Parkland,” wrote Kelly, who later on Tuesday appeared to change his Twitter setting so that his tweets were made private. Rep. Shawn Harrison is an honest and respectable man. In no way should he be held responsible for my error in judgement. Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have in recent days spoken out in favor of legislation to curb gun violence. Updated: 8:45 p.m.

Donald Trump has criticized the FBI for missing the “many signals” about the Florida school shooter, saying the agency was spending “too much time” trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. The US president’s attempt to use the shooting to make a political point about the FBI’s Russia inquiries into the Trump campaign drew swift criticism, including from John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, who told CNN it was an “absurd statement”. Trump, who the National Rifle Association (NRA) helped elect, made the comments as he faced demands for action on gun control, including from the teenage survivors of America’s latest school massacre. Thousands of protesters at state rallies this weekend demanded an immediate response from lawmakers in the wake of Wednesday’s attack that left 17 victims dead at a high school in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday. “Shame on you”, said one student, Emma Gonzalez. Trump, who the NRA spent spent more than $30m helping elect, has said little on gun control following the attack beyond a tweet late Saturday asking why Democrats didn’t pass legislation in the Obama administration, and has instead focussed on the mental health of the suspect, Nikolas Cruz. On Twitter, Trump referenced the FBI’s admission on Friday that it failed to investigate a specific report in January that Cruz could be plotting a school shooting. On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller announced an indictment of 13 Russians for trying to meddle in the US election. Play Video 1:53 Plans for the protests circulated widely on social media on Saturday, as students, parents, teachers and neighbors gathered to express their grief over the fatal shooting of 14 students and three staff members at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida. The Network for Public Education, an advocacy organization for public schools, announced a day of walkouts, sit-ins and other events on school campuses on 20 April, the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine high school in Colorado that left 12 students and one teacher dead.