Florida leaders Unite Against Hate Crimes
DORAL, FL – After the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in which the Police believes it could be related with racism, Florida leaders in both the Democratic and the Republican party are working together against hate crimes and mass shootings.
With this purpose in mind, both parties are outlining resolutions in an attempt to officially disapprove white nationalism and prevent more mass killings.
After the shooting in Texas, Republican Florida Senate President Bill Galvano called the violence “an all-to-present reminder that we have more work to do.”
This week, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, a Democratic presidential hopeful, requested a federal “red flag” law that would allow authorities to confiscate guns from white nationalists if a judge is convinced that a person is an imminent danger to society.
About this, Galvano said to the Associated Press on Thursday that the two issues should be approached separately, although he is open to possibly expanding Florida’s “red flags”.
There have been 2,434 risk protection orders reported to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that led the agency to suspend 595 concealed weapons licenses since Florida’s “red flag” law was effective on March 2018.
In the face of the most recent mass shootings, Florida Republicans are now more focused on hate crimes and keeping guns away from individuals with mental disorders.
For this reason, as CBS Miami reported, “three Republican state senators began circulating a resolution on Thursday that rejects white nationalism for being ‘hateful, dangerous, and morally corrupt.’ ”
Also, earlier this week Democrats in the Florida House introduced legislation against white supremacy referring to it as “hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values that define the people of Florida and the United States.”
However, the concern about gun control remains. “We can have lots of discussions about hate as it relates to white supremacy and white nationalism, but it does not get us to the solution of dealing with guns (…),” said Sen. Audrey Gibson, the Democratic leader in the Republican-controlled state Senate to CBS Miami.
Gun-control activists are trying to establish a measure on the 2020 ballot in order to ban assault weapons. Gibson has said to the media that assault weapons have been the “the common thread” of most mass shootings noticing the state could do a bigger effort in controlling access to guns.
Having a broader control of guns would mean strengthening background checks for private gun sales and expanding the state’s “red flag” laws to allow to seek a court order when people think a family member might be a risk.
But while both parties were radical in rejecting hate crimes, there is still little knowledge of what policy changes will be enacted.