Protest erupts in Senate Rules Committee as gun proposals are considered

In a sense, students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas are the real "winners" in the 2018 Session.

A sit-in protest over gun-control legislation erupted inside and outside the Senate Rules Committee on Monday as senators considered three contentious proposals rolled out in the wake of the deadly Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

Clad in bright orange shirts, gun control advocates wielded signs slamming the National Rifle Association. They yelled, “this is what democracy looks like” as the Rules Committee convened.

Chaos and emotion soon ensued in the jam-packed committee room and nearby hallways.

Rules Chair Lizbeth Benacquisto struggled to keep protesters in order as they booed NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer and Florida Carry President Eric Friday when each testified against amendments filed by Democrats to ban assault weapons in Florida.

“They don’t like how a criminal used the weapon,” Friday said, “but that’s not how they are widely used. It is time for the Legislature to realize this is an attempt to punish law-abiding citizens for the actions of one citizen.”

The amendments were filed on a package that merged three proposals that would arm teachers with weapons and train them to react in active shooter situations, raise the legal age to buy all firearms to 21 and increase funding for mental health in schools.

With two weeks left in the 2018 Legislative Session, this package hijacked the three-hour meeting. There were 25 other bills on the agenda, mostly on their final committee stop, but Benacquisto said the committee would likely not get to hear them as the focus would be on the recently filed proposals.