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In the aftermath of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is going to bat for red flag laws, insisting Congress should follow what Florida did after the Parkland mass shooting.

Crime

Rick Scott: Congress Should Follow Florida’s Example on Red Flag Laws

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In the aftermath of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is going to bat for red flag laws, insisting Congress should follow what Florida did after the Parkland mass shooting.

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In the aftermath of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is going to bat for red flag laws, insisting Congress should follow what Florida did after the Parkland mass shooting.

Stressing his NRA membership and his being a gun owner, Scott penned a piece which ran in the Washington Post towards the end of last week.

“Since the evil killing sprees in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, this past weekend, I’ve tried to spend more time listening and thinking than talking. The pontificating and the politicking of elected officials do nothing to help grieving families or reassure Americans who fear that their friends or loved ones could be next,” Scott wrote.

Scott pointed to red flag laws which he signed as governor after the Parkland mass shooting.

In Florida, about three weeks after the Parkland shooting — and after the views of experts in mental health, education and law enforcement were taken into account — I signed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act into law, surrounded by the families of those who tragically lost their lives,” Scott noted, insisting the federal government should follow Florida’s example.

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“Now, in the aftermath of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Washington should stop the partisan bickering and get to work on solutions,” Scott insisted. “The steps we took in Florida, in addition to committing $400 million to increasing school safety, included a ‘red flag’ provision. Properly constructed, the extreme risk protection order, as it’s known, is a common-sense public safety measure.

“Anyone who has threatened self-harm, has threatened to harm others or is mentally unstable should not have access to a gun. At all. You can call it an infringement on rights if you want. I don’t care. Just get guns away from such people,” Scott added.

“We can’t bring back the 31 lives lost this past weekend in the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, or the 17 Parkland victims. But we can commit now to increasing safety measures so that fewer families and fewer communities face these tragedies,” Scott concluded.

Scott defeated three-term U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., last year to win a Senate seat. Before that, he served two terms as governor.

 

Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.

 

Author

  • Originally from Jacksonville, Kevin Derby is a contributing writer for Florida Daily and covers politics across Florida.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Andrew Nappi

    August 12, 2019, 2:43 pm at 2:43 pm

    Red Flag laws do nothing to prevent mass murder. Nothing. What Rick Scott and the Republican-led legislature did in 2018 was cave to emotional teenagers who weren’t even allowed a chance to mourn, rather they were exploited by anti-gun organizers who refused to let a good crisis go to waste, lacking all decency and empathy for surviving families and students. The RPOF’s knee jerk reaction to this is now sought to be duplicated, unconstitutionally, on a national level, by the same purveyor of anti due process, Rick Scott.
    The biggest butt of this sad joke on freedom is Republican voters. They claim to be all about “the Constitution” but when push comes to shove, they drop all principle and adhere to men. In spite of this slap in the face by Rick Scott, Joe Negron, and Richard Corcoran, the lemmings all paraded their VOTE RED signs for the 2018 elections. Too stupid to realize that politics is not a binary choice, and too afraid to back a third party that actually does support due process and liberty, they ignorantly proclaim ” I ain’t votin’ for no DemonRat” and pull the lever for the people who pat them on the back while pickpocketing their liberties. Small wonder Republicans are known as the stupid party. They elect people who act contrary to their best interests and instead of punishing them in primaries or general election, they vote for them. Time after time, after time. Good grief, Republicans, even a rat figures out a maze and a trap eventually. Why can’t you?

  2. Cynthia Trimble

    August 16, 2019, 9:06 pm at 9:06 pm

    Red Flag laws are not what the citizens want and they are targeting the wrong people! Law abiding citizens are punished for the acts of an evil person. You are supposed to be protecting the second amendment, but you’ve passed a law that robs people of due process, and puts cops in the position of judge and jury by giving them authority to confiscate our guns on a “suspicion “ that is worse than any Democrat has implemented. You recklessly reacted to tragic events and trashed the most important right we have as citizens! If I wanted someone who disrespects our Constitution, I would have voted for a Democrat. I now wonder if you all are the same or if you just lack courage. You, other politicians, and Hollywood are all living in mansions and have body guards with guns. You don’t pass legislation to protect our borders which allows all kinds of criminals to settle into our communities, then you want to take away our means to protect ourselves! What is going on with so called Republicans? This is not what you promised, and these laws are stupid! They will not stop the type of people who commit these terrible crimes; instead they have led to hundreds of guns and ammunition taken away from law abiding citizens! I seriously don’t know why I bother to vote!

  3. R. D. Roseborough

    August 17, 2019, 4:11 am at 4:11 am

    Sen. Scott, don’t you realize that such Red Flag laws as you have passed will be used by Democrats and all knee-jerk gun-control alarmists to identify anyone who oppose them as “mentally unstable,” define them as such, and strip them of their constitutional 2d Amendment rights? UNDO YOUR SUPPORT FOR RED FLAG LAWS!!! DON’T CAVE TO THE IGNORANT GUN CONTROL ALARMISTS!!! GUN CONTROL IS FLAWED THINKING!!! GUNS ARE INANIMATE OBJECTS. Inanimate objects used for mass killings America- and world-wide include knives, automotive vehicles (remember autos in NYC, Europe, and elsewhere?) airplanes (remember 9-11 ~3k killed?), explosive fertilizers (remember OKC with 164 killed), natural gas, propane, butane, methane, broken glass, rocks, et. al. It is HUMANS who do MASS KILLINGS, NOT THESE INANIMATE OBJECTS. USING THE GUN CONTROL LOGIC, SHOULD WE SIMILARLY BAN THE USE OF ALL THESE INANIMATE OBJECTS??? SHALL WE BAN AUTOS, AIRPLANES, KITCHEN KNIVES, AND ALL OF THE OTHER INANIMATE OBJECTS LISTED??? SHALL WE now bicycle TO OUR LOCATIONS, STOP FERTILIZING OUR CROPS, BAN GLASS, BAN ROCKS (HOW WILL YOU DO THAT?), ET. AL.??? THIS IS FLAWED THINKING!!! AMERICANS ARE GUARANTEED THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS BY THE CONSTITUTION!!! STOP TRYING TO STRIP OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FROM US AND CONTROLLING OUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS OF ANY KIND!!!

  4. Anthony

    August 19, 2019, 3:59 pm at 3:59 pm

    I must agree with the comments below. Extreme actions have extreme consequences. What is needed is a common sense approach which leads to common sense laws.The second Amendment law is not going anywhere soon, but neither is the guns violence unless we have laws that make even the criminals scared to use them. It doesn’t take much research to see what happens when you use a firearm while committing a crime in Singapore. A criminal will use a wet towel before even thinking about a firearm. The facts bare out. Perhaps we should see what makes a small country of 3 million have a crime rate far below the United States
    https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Singapore/United-States/Crime

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