Moms Demand Action on guns in schools and background checks

Gun control advocates donned red T-shirts and went in search of lawmakers at the state Capitol Wednesday.

The third Moms-Demand-Action advocacy day drew 500 participants — three times the number of last year’s event — to urge the Florida Legislature to reject a proposal to arm public school teachers and support an effort to expand background checks for gun purchases.

“We agree that gun violence is a public health epidemic,” said Kate Kile, who organized the Tallahassee chapter three years ago and helped take the gun control effort statewide. “But firearms in a school setting should not be carried by anyone other than a law enforcement officer or a school resource officer.”

The Senate Education Committee Monday filed a bill to allow teachers to have guns in the classroom. The committee acted on the recommendations of a public safety commission to expand a so-called guardian program created after last year's shooting at a Parkland high school. The Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program allows some school staff to carry concealed weapons.

Currently 25 school districts have a guardian program. The Senate bill removes a prohibition on teachers and allows them to participate and carry guns. 

Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, said he opposed the move to let teachers have firearms but voted for the bill last year because it also contained $69 million for mental health programs.

A former high school principal, Montford has yet to publicly declare either way on the committee bill (SPB 7030). When Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, chair of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission, presented the recommendation to the education committee, Montford asked a series of questions about how it arrived at its conclusion but didn't tip his hand.

He told Gualtieri he looked forward to working with him. Montford also said he's scheduled a meeting with sheriffs and school superintendents and would report back to the committee.

The guardian program was part of a package of initiatives that also raised the legal age to purchase firearms, prohibited a violent or mentally ill individual from possessing a gun and banned bump stocks.

They were the first gun restrictions approved in decades and groups like Moms Demand Action and Everytown USA look to build upon them in 2019. 

In addition to blocking the expansion of the Guardian Program, the activists have lined up behind HB 135, which would create universal background checks on all firearms purchases.

That proposal has drawn fire from the National Rifle Association. Marion Hammer, a past NRA president, criticized the legislation by Rep. Margaret Good, D-Sarasota, as government meddling in people's lives.

“You must go to a licensed firearms dealer to have a background check done on your best friend just to lend him a hunting rifle to go on a hunting trip," Hammer wrote to Unified Sportsmen of Florida members about the bill.  "You must also pay the dealer an administrative fee PLUS the background check fee charged by FDLE."

Kate Cunningham of Naples made the nine-hour drive to Tallahassee with five others to talk to lawmakers and counter Hammer’s talking points. She and her Lee and Collier county friends would spend about 36-hours away from home and a couple of hundred dollars on hotel rooms and gas for a few minutes with a lawmaker.

Cunningham participated in last year’s day of advocacy that drew 150 participants, compared to this year’s 500.

“We want background checks,” said Cunningham when asked why she made the trip again.

Earlier in the day, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried brought Cunningham and others to their feet with loud applause when she declared “the NRA no longer runs the Department of Agriculture.”

Fried’s agency manages the concealed weapons licensing program and her predecessor, Adam Putnam, once declared he was a “proud NRA sellout.”

Like other lawmakers asked Wednesday, Fried has yet to take a position on the push to expand the Guardian Program. She said she will wait until the Legislature holds hearings and makes revisions.

With the eye towards those revisions, Fried had some tips for the activists. She reminded them that they will have a short window of time to be effective because legislators have scores of meeting on dozens of topics.

“The first 30 seconds are going to be the key in order to get them to entertain the rest of the conversation,” said Fried. 

She advised them to make a pitch about people, not politics.

“Go to their heartstrings. Make it about their children, about their family members, about their moms, their siblings, their spouses,” said Fried. “Make them understand it is not a partisan fight. When you take the partisan politics out of the equation and get to their heartstrings you have a better chance of getting their attention.”

The proposal to arm teachers will be considered by the Education Committee Feb. 12. Good’s proposal to expand background checks has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.

Writer James Call can be contacted at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee