It’s been four years since Parkland, and the NRA still wants to kill Florida’s gun-control law | Editorial

Four years ago, Florida did what was once considered unimaginable: pass gun control measures after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The new law enacted by the Legislature didn’t do much, but after 17 people died at the hands of a shooter armed with a semi-automatic rifle, we took whatever win we could get.

On the fourth anniversary of the massacre at the school in Parkland, what little gun control we have in the state remains in peril. It’s not surprising, but, still infuriating in the face of the pleas from Parkland survivors who have been asking for more gun control — mostly unsuccessfully and while coming under vicious attacks from conservatives.

Soon after then-Gov. Rick Scott signed the 2018 bill into law, the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit to strike part of it down. The group argued that raising the minimum age to buy a firearm from a licensed dealer from 18 to 21 violated the Second Amendment. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act made an exception for law enforcement or correctional officers and service members. It imposed a three-day waiting period for purchasing a gun and banned bump stocks, devices that give firearms the capabilities of automatic weapons.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled against the NRA in June, writing that the U.S. Constitution “does not protect the sale of firearms to 18-to-20-year-olds.” Despite being plagued by financial problems, the NRA pushed on, appealing the decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments are scheduled to happen on March 24 in Miami.

In a sharp counterpoint Monday to the NRA’s stance in Florida, the father of a Parkland victim climbed a construction crane near the White House to protest the lack of national action on gun violence. Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son, Joaquin, was gunned down in a hallway, was arrested shortly after he unfurled a banner with his son’s face on it from the top of the crane.

Though some may dismiss this as a stunt, it’s impossible to ignore the kind of pain that must have driven Oliver, who became a gun-reform activist after his son’s murder, to make that climb on a winter day in Washington to make his statement. He posted a bit of windswept video from the top, saying he was there “so the whole world will listen to Joaquin today.” He said he’d asked for a meeting with President Biden and hadn’t gotten one.

Biden issued a statement Monday on Parkland as well, saying he wants Congress to pass a budget that includes half a billion dollars to reduce violent crime, in addition to outlawing military-style weapons and requiring background checks.

Gun control seems like pie in the sky in a gridlocked Congress and in Florida. The best the state Legislature did in the aftermath of the state’s deadliest school shooting was pass a law that Walker himself argued might not prevent the next mass shooting, writing, “It is not clear how much the Act does to prevent tragedies like the one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.” Many 18-to-20-year-olds can still obtain a firearm through parents or other relatives, he added.

The law’s small reach isn’t an excuse to throw it away, but a reason to strengthen it, though that’s unlikely to happen given the conservative backlash lawmakers faced after they passed the the legislation’s baby steps into law. As the state argued in court, 18-to-21-year-olds are more likely to commit violent crimes than people in other age groups.

The NRA’s position has nothing to do with the law’s effectiveness in preventing mass shootings. For decades, the organization been able to stifle any proposal that limits access to guns in Florida — and it is not ready to give that power up.

The deaths of 17 people on Valentine’s Day 2018 won’t change what the NRA — no matter how weakened by its recent financial and legal woes — considers to be of critical importance.

This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 2:43 PM.