CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed that “nothing” was done after mass shootings like the one in Parkland, Florida in 2018.
VERDICT: FALSE. The Parkland attack prompted the Republican-led state to pass a red flag law and improve school safety.
The Parkland shooting at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School involved a mentally disturbed former student who had been sheltered from prosecution despite numerous violent outbursts and encounters with police. Police, including a school resource officer, waited to go into the school to stop the shooting as it was in progress. Seventeen people were killed.
Far from doing “nothing,” the Republican legislature and Gov. Rick Scott (R) took action. As the UPI later recalled:
In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a $400 million of legislative reforms for school security, mental health and gun control. The legislation bans the use of bump stocks — devices that allow the rapid firing of certain firearms — increases the minimum rifle purchasing age from 18 and 21, and institutes a three-day waiting period on all firearm purchase.
A Democratic attempt to include an amendment banning all assault weapons was unsuccessful.
Biden listed examples of other mass shootings where “nothing” was done. But that was often because the gun control laws Democrats sought to pass had nothing to do with the shootings in question, and Americans feared a more ambitious agenda.
After the most recent mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the California State Senate actually passed a bill that would remove the current obligation that schools must report threats against teachers and officials to law enforcement, for “racial equity.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.