Florida Senate Votes Against Assault Weapons Ban

The bill would have banned the AR-15, the gun used to kill 17 people in Parkland, Florida last month.

florida statehouse protests
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Image via Getty/Don Juan Moore

florida statehouse protests

The Florida Senate voted against a bill that would have banned assault weapons, according to the Washington Post. Immediately following the vote, Senators then hypocritically moved to take a moment of silence for the 17 victims of the Parkland, Florida shooting.

Many survivors turned activists have been protesting at the State House in Tallahassee following the shooting on February 14, advocating for stricter gun control laws and circulating the slogan #NeverAgain. Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are currently planning a nation-wide protest entitled “March For Our Lives,” set to take place in Washington D.C. on March 24. 

Florida Senator Linda Stewart, a Democrat, introduced the amendment that would ban assault weapons. “I want us to do today what the kids asked us to do when 10,000 of them came up here on the steps of the capitol and asked us,” she said before the vote. “Never again. Please ban assault weapons.”

The amendment would have banned assault weapons, which includes AR-15s—the gun used by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz in the Parkland shooting. The bill failed in a 20-to-17 vote on Saturday. Afterward the Senate President, Republican Joe Negron told senators to take a moment of “silence and reflection” for the Parkland victims. “Today marks 17 days after those 17 fellow citizens lost their lives,” said Negron, who voted against the ban. “I would ask us to begin reflecting on their lives and the bravery that was shown on that day.”

Republican Senator Kelli Stargel said banning assault weapons would be a slippery slope, arguing that only “thoughts and prayers” could stop mass shootings like the one that took place in Parkland. “Thoughts and prayers are really the only thing that’s going to stop the evil from within the individual that is taking up their arms to do this type of massacre,” Stargel said.

One survivor of the shooting, junior class president Jaclyn Corin, shared her disappointment with the Florida Senate decision on Twitter.

Other people also spoke out on Twitter, particularly members of the very establishment who struggled to pass the ban.

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