Target: Rick Scott, Governor of Florida
Goal: Applaud Florida’s new gun control legislation recently passed into law.
On March 9, 2018, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a bill to create the first gun control legislation since the Parkland mass school shooting in February 2018. The law is known as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. It allows some teachers to be armed while in school and will tighten gun control in general in modest ways. A earlier ForceChange petition called on Scott to sign the bill into law.
Upon signing the bill into law, Governor Scott recalled, with families of victims and survivors of the Parkland mass school shooting, the grief that resulted from the tragedy and the unnecessary loss of lives. He also touched on the shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando and at the Fort Lauderdale Airport that occurred in 2016. Scott said, “The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as governor is try to find the words to console a parent who has lost their child. There are just no words.”
Instead of words, Governor Scott took political action. The new laws raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 and bans the sale of bump stocks. The $400 million bill will also provide funding for school-specific measures like mental health counselors. Despite pushback in the form of a lawsuit from the National Rifle Association, Governor Scott praised the Florida Legislature for quickly delivering a bill—a step, he said, that greatly contrasts with the inefficiency of the federal government in Washington. Sign this petition to applaud Governor Scott’s approval of the bill that provides safer gun control in the state of Florida.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Governor Scott,
In the wake of tragedies like the mass shootings in Parkland, Pulse Night Club, and the Fort Lauderdale Airport, sympathies and mourning can only do so much. True change comes in the form of legislation that prevents these tragedies from happening again in the future. While the federal government has not created any nationwide political change, you recently signed a bill into law that tightens gun control in the state of Florida.
The $400 million bill raises the minimum age to buy a gun, funds school mental health counselors, and allows some school staff members to be armed. All of these will changes will work to prevent future mass shootings. While these decisions are not easy and are almost always contentious, I would like to personally thank and applaud you for taking swift political action in the wake of tragedy and passing laws that will help prevent gun violence.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
