Tina Polsky to join Ted Deutch, Donna Shalala at gun violence press conference

TINA POLSKY BACKGROUND
The Thursday news conference will be held at Coral Springs City Hall at 11 a.m.

State Rep. Tina Polsky is set to join U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Donna Shalala at a Thursday morning news conference aimed at addressing gun violence.

On hand as well will be representatives from a pair of advocacy organizations. Heather Chapman, a volunteer at Moms Demand Action, will appear alongside Tony Montalto, President of Stand With Parkland.

The event was announced Tuesday. But Polsky’s name was added to the list of attendees in a press release Wednesday afternoon.

Montalto helped create Stand With Parkland after losing his daughter Gina in the 2018 shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School.

The organization advocates for school safety improvements, including gun reform measures such as universal background checks.

Moms Demand Action was spawned following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The nation recently saw a pair of mass shootings added to the list, with attacks taking place in Texas and Ohio. Thursday’s news conference will be held at Coral Springs City Hall at 11 a.m.

Deutch and other Democrats have pushed for stricter gun laws in the aftermath of the Parkland attack. Deutch recently met with Montalto and several other Parkland parents to advocate for two of those bills.

The School Violence Prevention and Mitigation Act would award grants to schools that adopt school safety measures, such as installing a panic alarm in schools. The EAGLES Act would expand the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center to help stop potential attacks on schools.

Following the recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, which left dozens dead, President Donald Trump said he was in favor of stronger background checks. He rebuked concerns from the National Rifle Association (NRA) that universal background checks could lead to a “slippery slope” of the government eventually taking away people’s guns entirely.

“They think you approve one thing, and that leads to a lot of bad things,” Trump said of the NRA. “I don’t agree with that. I think we can do meaningful — very meaningful — background checks.”

Less than two weeks later, after meeting the the NRA, Trump reversed himself entirely by echoing those concerns of a slippery slope.

“The Democrats would, I believe, I think they’d give up the Second Amendment,” Trump said. “And we have to be very careful about that. You know, they call it the slippery slope. And all of a sudden everything gets taken away.

“We’re not going to let that happen.”

Ryan Nicol

Ryan Nicol covers news out of South Florida for Florida Politics. Ryan is a native Floridian who attended undergrad at Nova Southeastern University before moving on to law school at Florida State. After graduating with a law degree he moved into the news industry, working in TV News as a writer and producer, along with some freelance writing work. If you'd like to contact him, send an email to [email protected].


3 comments

  • Mary Pezzi

    August 28, 2019 at 4:51 pm

    Meaningful gun legislation would include 1. A mandatory gun safety class before buying any firearms, and an advanced safety class before the purchase of anything more than a hunting rifle — that would help slow down the purchase of handguns that are cheap and most often used in crimes; 2. The official definition and ban of military-style assault weapons that are lousy hunting, target shooting and home defense weapons: In other words, their only use is to buy into the glamorized NRA “macho man” identity of a weapon only useful to kill or fatally wound as many human beings as possible in the shortest amount of time. 3. Making the so called high-velocity “cop killer” ammo illegal along with large magazine ammo is also necessary. None of this is needed for hunting, target shooting and/or home defense. So let’s choose our children’s safety over a bunch of extremists.

    • Robert Leviton

      August 29, 2019 at 9:54 pm

      Except what you propose violates the 2nd, 10th, and 14th amendments of the Constitution! But like all Democratic Socialists, the Constitution is toilet paper to you!

  • steve kokette

    August 28, 2019 at 9:07 pm

    Anyone interested in reducing violence, including gun violence, should watch One Punch Homicide. It’s getting great reviews and can be seen free online.

Comments are closed.


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