Florida Democrats Disagree With ‘Public Safety Pack’ Ban

TALLAHASSEE, Florida. As Florida prepares to reflect this week on the fifth anniversary of the Parkland school shooting, a debate rages in the State Capitol over a proposed gun law. Republicans in the Senate combined their carry-on bill with school safety provisions, disappointing Democrats.

Like House policy, this new bill continues to allow Florida residents to carry concealed weapons without the currently required permit or training. But it also aims to improve the distribution of threats between schools and requires law enforcement to have an active shooter response policy with annual training.

“Overall, it’s about protecting what’s most valuable and important to us,” said Senator Jay Collins, D-Tampa. “These are our families. These are our children.”

Collins is a freshman legislator carrying a bill he called a public safety package during a press conference last Friday.

“We have a God-given and constitutional right to protect our families,” Collins said.

But Democrats are not impressed. Members of Parliament suggest that the vast majority of the Republican Party is playing politics in an attempt to make gun policy more attractive to the Legislature and the public by incorporating it into widely supported school safety measures.

House Minority Leader Fentris Driskell, D-Tampa, said the change “looks like bait.” She considered this step gaslighting.

“It’s not only offensive, it’s deaf,” Driskell said. “Most Floridians and most Americans want gun laws to be based on common sense. They want universal background checks. They want to make sure the guns don’t fall into the hands of people who aren’t supposed to.”

Collins and his Republican Party colleagues dismissed the concerns. They denied that the change was minor in relation to their counterparts across the aisle.

“This is not an excavation,” Collins said. “This is what strong public policy looks like.”

The Republican seemed confident that his version, filled with school stuff, would be a policy that would move forward and possibly end up on the governor’s desk before the end of the upcoming regular legislative session. The 60-day build runs from March to May this year.

“To the best of my knowledge, everyone is moving forward by working together,” Collins said. “We are one nation on a mission to do what we do.”

Approval of unauthorized wear is the GOP’s top goal for 2023. Gov. Ron DeSantis promoted the idea last April, pledging to put the law into effect before leaving office.

“I can tell you that before I am done as governor, we will have a signature on this bill,” DeSantis said.