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Lawmaker talks state, federal gun safety at St. Cloud town hall

April 11, 2018

The tense topic of gun safety legislation drew a standing-room only crowd and sparked lively debate at St. Cloud's Community Center Saturday afternoon.
U.S. Congressman Darren Soto (D-Kissimmee) held a town hall meeting to field questions from constituents over gun laws in the wake of a February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.

Soto kicked off the town hall by defining the term "assault weapon." He used the definition set forth in the decade-long federal assault weapons ban, which characterizes the items as "semi-automatic firearms with a large magazine ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire or combat use." Soto added that the sweeping Florida gun bill signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott last month that places limitations on guns, such as bump stock sales and minimum age requirements for purchasers, but does not place restrictions on the sale or manufacturing of assault weapons.

Five Point Gun Safety Action Plan

Soto then described a set of federal efforts he called his Five Point Gun Safety Action Plan. The first three points were specially requested by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students when they traveled to Washington D.C. during the March For Our Lives rally last month. Those three points included the re-implementation of the federal assault weapons ban, a ban on high-capacity magazine clips and stricter mandatory background checks. Soto also voiced support for his fourth point, HR 1982, a bill aimed at implementing a red flag system that would take firearms away from those with severe mental illnesses. Florida already signed its own red flag system into law last month. The measure gives law enforcement greater authority to seize guns and ammunition on a short-term basis from those deemed mentally unfit.

The last provision on Soto's five-point plan is a piece of legislation commonly referred to as the "No Fly, No Buy" measure that would bar people listed on the federal government's no-fly list from legally purchasing firearms. One of the more than 81,000 names on the FBI's terrorism watch list as of early 2014 was Omar Mateen, the shooter who murdered 49 people during the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting.

Stoneman Douglas alum speaks
Several guest speakers, including a Marjory Stoneman Douglas alum and Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson, spoke before public comment began.
Mike Parker, a 2000 graduate of the Parkland High School and a University of Central Florida alum, spoke about organizing efforts between himself and other Douglas High graduates following the shooting. He asked for the audience to keep an open mind about gun law reform.
"We will work and we will vote so that no other families have to go through this," Parker said. "It's very cliché to say you don't know what it's like until it effects you personally. I just hope no one in this room has to ever find out what it's like."

Public comment heats up
Timber Creek High School senior Thomas Mitchell asked Soto what he had to say to "students who are scared to go to school each day."
Soto recapped his Five Point Gun Safety Action Plan, and encouraged the teenager to continue the wave of political involvement spearheaded by young people following the shooting in Parkland.

"As with any movement, it takes years of advocacy," Soto said. "It can't just be a fad that lasts a few months. Any great change in this country has taken years."
There was plenty of opposition from residents who bucked at the thought of any major or lasting gun reform.

Local resident Steve Carr voiced a popular opinion held by many town hall meeting attendees – that legislative reform should focus on mental health funding, not gun reform.
"How many people who own AR-15s didn't go out and shoot someone today?" asked Carr, a lifelong NRA member who also said he was attending his first town hall meeting.
Carr went on to say he was in favor of background checks, especially at events like gun shows, but emphasized that he believed guns were necessary for personal protection.
Carr also asked Gibson how effective school security resource officers would be in Osceola County, since armed SROs failed to put a stop to Nikolas Cruz, the Douglas High shooter.

"Our procedure is that if there is firing, our deputies are going in," Gibson replied, sparking a wave of applause from the audience. "We do not run away from the danger. We do not wait for back-up. When our kids are in danger, we take care of it."

In response to the question of mental health, Soto said it was important for the FBI and other organizations to take warning signs and threats more seriously in order to prevent mass violence. He also discussed a bi-partisan push to make sure that the Department of Children and Families is following-up and intervening in cases more consistently.
A new Florida school safety law is also set to allocate $69 million to schools for mental health funding.
Resident Tracy Issacs echoed Carr's concern over mental health.

"We are constantly encroaching on these laws that, I think, is completely unconstitutional," Issacs said. "We're not making the rules where we're needing them, which is to hold people accountable for allowing somebody of this caliber to fall through the cracks."

Resident Glenda White asked Soto what kind of due process would be in place to protect citizens and mental health patients who may have their firearms taken away under a Red Flag system.

Soto explained that a hearing would be held and judges would make the final call on when an individual could get their firearms back.

Soto's stance on the 2nd Amendment
In response to several residents who questioned Soto's support for the Second Amendment, he referred to the primary Supreme Court decision handed down in 2008, the District of Columbia v. Heller, which defined the constructional boundaries of gun ownership.

In that case, the court decided that the right to bear arms is not unlimited, and that guns and gun ownership may continue to be regulated. For example, an automatic weapons ban has been in place for years, and the decade-long federal assault weapons ban was never found unconstitutional.

"It is clear, based on what the Supreme Court has told me as a member of Congress, is that it is not an unlimited right," Soto said. "It is a right that has a scope as defined by the Supreme Court."

Soto's town hall meeting proceeded his return to Capital Hill Monday, as members of the U.S. Congress and Senate returned from spring break session.
Soto said at the meeting he plans to pursue the legislation outlined in his action plan during the current session.

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