Ryan Nicol
Democratic Sen. Lauren Book is once again spearheading an effort to approve Jaime’s Law, seeking to keep dangerous Floridians from acquiring ammunition.
Rep. Dan Daley, a Coral Springs Democrat, filed a measure in the House late last year. The two worked on the effort together in 2020, though the GOP-controlled Legislature declined to move forward with the proposals.
“As a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, nothing is more important to me than preventing another tragedy like what our community experienced from ever happening again,” Daley said upon introducing his bill (HB 25) in November.
Book refiled a version on Tuesday (SB 1170), just weeks ahead of the 2021 Legislative Session. The bills seek to take provisions regulating gun purchases and apply them to ammo sales as well. The measure is named “Jaime’s Law” after Jaime Guttenberg, one of the 17 people killed during the 2018 attack at Stoneman Douglas High School.
If the legislation is successful, a purchaser would need to go through a background check, same as they would if purchasing a weapon. Like the current law on background checks, law enforcement officers and those with concealed weapons permits would not face mandatory background checks for ammunition purchases.
Ammunition could still be freely transferred at shooting ranges, or hunting and fishing sites just as before, so long as “the transferor has no reason to believe that the transferee will use or intends to use the ammunition in a crime or that the transferee is prohibited from possessing ammunition under state or federal law.”
Fred Guttenberg, Jaime’s father, has worked as an advocate to expand gun regulation since the 2018 attack. He supports the measure.
“With approximately 400,000,000 weapons already on the streets, we must make it harder for those who intend to kill to do so,” Guttenberg said.
“Prohibited purchasers of weapons are also prohibited from buying ammunition, but there is no mechanism in place to keep that ammunition out of their hands. We must close this ammunition loophole and this bill is a step in the right direction to do it. Jaime’s Law will help save lives immediately.”
Book served on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, a panel set up after the 2018 Parkland shooting to analyze the causes of the attack and prepare against future tragedies. Sunday marks the third anniversary of that shooting.
7 comments
Douglas Lunsford
February 11, 2021 at 11:22 am
Here’s the problem with this legislation, IT WOULD HAVE DONE NOTHING TO PREVENT WHAT HAPPENED!! The shooter had already and was able to pass a backfground check. Just another violation of our rights.
Fred W
February 11, 2021 at 11:30 am
How about we just stop limiting the rights of law abiding adults to self protection? Repeal 790.115 and 790.06(12)(a) and allow people who are licensed to carry to do so!
I believe those laws contributed to the death of Coach Aaron Feiss and others that day. If not for those laws, Coach Feiss may have been able to stop the killing while Deputy Peterson and other Broward Deputies hid.
Dawn Dawson
February 11, 2021 at 7:23 pm
Any law made against gun rights (including registration and Conceal Carry permits) are against our Constitution. Representatives are supposed to protect the Constitution not go against it. Our military signs an oath to protect the Constitution from Foreign and domestic. So I think it’s time they do.
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED
Key words
Roger
February 12, 2021 at 5:46 pm
Another infringement masquerading as “caring about the children”. It would’ve done nothing to prevent anything. Gun control is people control.
Kenneth
February 13, 2021 at 10:52 pm
I totally agree with the other four citizens that replied to this zero affect policy…put forward by a politician and a grieving father. The shooter was evil to the bone and the angel of death is long over due and is totally responsible for those deaths. But, the response by the deputy at the school was nothing less than that of a coward and the non-action by the rest of the cops that showed up and did totally nothing should haunt them the rest of their lives.
David
February 15, 2021 at 10:55 am
The article states…”Like the current law on background checks, law enforcement officers and those with concealed weapons permits would not face mandatory background checks for ammunition purchases.”
Where is this magical place? I have a concealed weapon license (it’s not called a permit in Florida) and still have to have the background check for every gun purchase. I don’t have to wait the 3 days before taking it home, but the background check still takes place every time. Reporter needs to do better research.
Sandra Lee Reynolds
February 17, 2021 at 9:04 am
why don’t they talk about the Sunshine thing that Obama put in place through the person he put on the board of education that stopped the schools from reporting incidences that happen to the police if it had not been for that he might have been stopped sooner and how about all the times police was called to his residence I call that failure of the county to take responsibility for what happened not the GUN
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