TALLAHASSEE -- There have been more gun control bills filed in the Florida Legislature this year than any in recent memory — but you wouldn’t know it. Despite Democrats’ push to spark a “conversation” about guns after the Trayvon Martin and Newtown, Conn., tragedies, the Republican-led Legislature has traditionally shown little interest in entertaining the gun control debate.

As more than two dozen gun control bills languish in a sort of legislative purgatory, one Democratic proposal defied the odds Tuesday, getting a hearing before lawmakers.

“We were able to sit everyone down at the table, and it took two minutes,” said Rep. Barbara Watson, D-Miami Gardens, who formed an unlikely partnership with the gun lobby to push for new firearm restrictions for mentally ill people. The bill, HB 1355, cleared its first committee on a 13-0 vote.

Other proposals — which range from anger management classes for gun owners to new “mental health taxes” for gun sales — haven’t been as fortunate in Florida’s firearm-friendly Legislature, where attempts at gun control typically die quietly.

Asked Tuesday about how the near-tragedy at the University of Central Florida when a heavily-armed student planned a massacre earlier this week affected the gun debate, Gov. Rick Scott was vague in his response.

“Anything like that you always worry about,” he said, before hailing the Florida’s law enforcement community for the state’s declining crime rate. “Anytime something happens in the state… you reflect back and say ‘What could we do better?’”

Scott’s office said in January that he is “not proposing any gun law changes.”

Florida’s House Speaker and the Senate President — who play a major role in setting the legislative agenda — have echoed that sentiment, reaffirming their support for the Second Amendment even as national tragedies have sparked calls for tougher gun laws.

Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who recently quipped “My idea of gun control is a steady aim,” said he will leave the decision over whether or not to entertain a gun debate to Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker.

Evers, who chairs the Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee and is an “A+” rated life member of the National Rifle Association, said he doesn’t see the need for such a debate.

“I don’t really look for a gun debate this year,” he said. “There may be some good legislation out there but right now I don’t see any controversial bills that we need to bring up or any bills dealing with guns that need to be moved.”

That hasn’t stopped Democrats from trying.

A bevy of bills sponsored by Democrats would force universal background checks, repeal the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law which grants immunity to people who use deadly force if they believe they’re acting in self-defense, and place new taxes and fees on gun sales.

One proposal, by Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, would require people to take anger management classes before buying ammunition. Another, from Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, would close the so-called “gun show loophole” and require all gun sales to be processed through a licensed dealer.