The Florida Senate rejected “assault weapons” ban legislation on Saturday and voted in support of training and arming teachers for school safety.
The Senate action came less than a week after the state’s House Appropriations Committee rejected an “assault weapons” ban as well.
Reuters reports that the Senate vote against the ban was 20-17. Those supporting it consisted of the 15 Democrat senators and two Republicans who crossed the aisle to support gun control.
The Tallahassee Democrat reports that Sens. René García and Anitere Flores were the two Republicans who voted for gun control.
The Senate also voted down an amendment intended to prevent teachers from being trained and armed. This vote preserved the school marshal program that will allow school employees to volunteer to undergo training to carry a gun on K-12 campuses.
The move to arm teachers was opposed by the Legislative Black Caucus, which suggested that arming teachers may “lead to racial profiling against minority students.”
On February 23, Breitbart News reported that Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) opposes arming teachers so that they can shoot back if under attack. He stresses that school personnel should let law enforcement “[keep] us safe.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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