A.G. Gancarski
It’s crunch time in Gov. Rick Scott‘s final Legislative Session, and in the wake of the mass murder in Parkland, a $500 million “school safety” plan is his last big pitch.
The plan has three components: “Gun laws, school safety, and mental health.”
The plan offers some moves toward gun control: restrictions of purchases by those who have been Baker Acted, as well as a ban on commercial sales to those under 21, and a “bump stock” ban.
As well, $500 billion will be allocated for the major action plan.
Of that sum, $450 million will go to “school hardening,” with resource officers in every school, security upgrades ranging from bullet-proof glass to better locks, mental health counselors on campus, and crisis intervention training for all school personnel.
And $50 million more will go to mental health, which will include overt coordination between sheriff’s offices and the Department of Children and Families.
In Jacksonville Wednesday afternoon, Scott pitched the plan.
“This state’s never going to be the same,” Scott said, in the wake of the incident in Parkland two weeks ago and the school hardening and gun control measures proposed.
“It will be virtually impossible for anyone struggling with mental illness or posing a threat to themselves or others to purchase a gun,” Scott said.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Sheriff Mike Williams both lauded Scott for leadership on this issue, even as many will wonder why this leadership is happening after seven full years in office, with some saying the Governor is going too far and others saying that these moves don’t rectify the problem at all.
Meanwhile, Scott sidestepped criticisms from Democrats and gun safety advocates on the left that the proposal was inadequate, self-serving, and driven by a need to move to the center ahead of 2018 elections.
“There’s no political calculation here,” Scott said. “I’m the sitting governor, a dad, and a grand dad.”
“I want every child in the state to be safe,” Scott said. “That’s how I came up with my proposal. I listened to the sheriffs and police chiefs, law enforcement. I listened to educators, listened to mental health professionals. I cam up with a proposal that would actually have an impact.”
“I look forward to continuing to work with the Legislature. I know other people will have additional ideas,” Scott added.
Some ideas are clearly off the table.
He didn’t answer our question about an assault weapon ban.
Nor did he address our question regarding the National Rifle Association and its outsized influence on GOP policy proposals.
But Scott’s late-Session foray into the Jacksonville market was intended as a big-picture sales job of achievable reforms, and he will make a similar play in Tampa Wednesday, and other markets through the first few days of March.
