There are two choices: fast or right. The Florida Legislature needs to slow down and get the school safety bill right.
In addition to limiting the rights of law abiding citizens by adding a three day waiting period for firearms purchases and upping the age to be able to purchase a gun, they are making teachers (and thereby their students) more vulnerable to an active shooter by taking teachers out of the School Marshal program that would train and arm them to be able to defend against an active shooter.
It’s good that they are adding funds to school security measures and for mental health programs that may catch a shooter-in-waiting before the act and even being able to confiscate weapons from those demonstrating violent tendencies.
But leaving teachers and their students to be helpless victims is not smart. It ignores the reality of a shooting situation and plays to the emotional overreaction we have seen since Valentine’s Day.
Stop this bill now and take the time to get it right.