Maxwell Frost, David Hogg say permitless carry law contributed to Orlando mass shooting

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost sees a direct connection between Florida’s new permitless carry law and a Halloween shooting in his district.

During a press call organized by the Democratic National Committee, Florida Politics asked Frost about a shooting in Orlando early Friday that left two dead and six others hospitalized. Frost, an Orlando Democrat, noted it’s not the first time shots were fired in downtown Orlando. He was present for a 2016 shooting nearby.

“Our Chief of Police came out and said, usually, over the last few years, we’ve screened people, done security checks to make sure people aren’t bringing guns into downtown Orlando,” Frost said.

“They had to stop those screenings this year because of a law passed in Florida called permitless carry, which makes it so that people can conceal-carry a weapon without a permit. The Police Department was unable to screen people because they’re unable to tell people they can’t have a gun in the area, because technically, the street is a public street.”

Video surveillance footage released by the agency shows the shooting took place around 1:07 a.m., with shots fired outside just south of Washington Street on Orange Avenue. Police arrested 17-year-old Jaylen Dwayne Edgar following the incident.

Frost addressed the shooting during a call on activating young voters ahead of the General Election on Tuesday. Already, national Democrats planned to discuss gun violence with David Hogg, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting in Parkland in 2018. He was a founder of the March for Our Lives movement, which has lobbied state governments to pass more than 100 new laws across the country.

“It’s just common sense that if you’re allowing more people in these areas to have firearms that are not trained, that are able to just be in these situations, you’re going to see more random instances — random fights and other things like that — that previously would have been a fist fight at worst, turn into a shootout,” Hogg said.

Hogg predicted that the issue will motivate people in critical state-level contests as well. He said he will knock doors this weekend for Florida House candidate Nate Douglas and anticipates that will help the Democrat win in House District 37.

Frost and Hogg said many young voters feel motivated to demand change in gun policy at the state and federal level. Both back Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and believe the issue will move many voters to support her on Tuesday.

Frost noted that Democratic President Joe Biden created the first national Office of Gun Violence Prevention. He has filed a bill to require future administrations to keep that open, and was at a White House ceremony with Biden and Harris when the initiative was announced.

“We have a lot of work we need to do. But I’ll tell you this, the gun violence prevention movement is the strongest it’s ever been,” Frost said. “We are stronger than the gun lobby. We are stronger than the NRA. We are stronger than gun manufacturers. We know this because we’re getting the most wins we’ve ever gotten. The first office of gun violence prevention, the most executive orders fighting gun violence.”

He noted just a decade ago, many Democrats were reluctant to embrace policies like an assault weapons ban, but that has now been added to the party platform.

“It’s part of our current and future President’s platform as well,” Frost said. “So we’re building power, we’re sustaining power, and we’re going to continue to work to save lives.”