Marco Rubio discusses gun safety measures on the Senate floor on Thursday, March 1, 2018.
What to Know
- Speaking on the Senate floor, Rubio discussed the "massive multi-systemic failure" that led to the shooting
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio announced a plan Thursday to combat gun violence and school safety in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, stressing more security and training at schools as well as better background checks.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Rubio discussed the "massive multi-systemic failure" that led to the shooting that claimed 17 lives at the Parkland school.
"I believe this attack could have been prevented if current law had been fully enforced. This killer was a well-known danger to the school district and the Broward Sheriff’s office. He was also the subject of two separate and specific warnings to law enforcement agencies...People saw something and people said something," Rubio said. "And yet somehow this deranged and violent individual was able to pass a background check and purchase not one but 10 separate firearms, and ultimately walk right into a public school a few minutes before dismissal and take the lives of 17 innocent Floridians."
Rubio said that while he was open to addressing gun control measures, many of the reforms don't have widespread support in Congress. He asked his colleagues to "not hold hostage a piece of legislation that would work and that we all support because it doesn't have everything you want."
Rubio said he and Sen. Orrin Hatch were introducing the "Stop School Violence Act," which would give federal grants to states to strengthen school security, provide school training to identify threats and create school threat assessment and crisis intervention teams.
He also said he will be pushing for a new law regarding gun violence restraining orders that would entail court orders to prevent gun sales or remove guns from people who pose a threat.
Rubio is also calling for strengthened background checks, including a "Lie and Try" bill that requires the FBI to notify states when a prohibited person tries to buy a gun, and fails the required background check.
The plan didn't specifically address assault weapons but Rubio said he would continue to look at other measures involving age limits and potentially magazine capacity.
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"These reforms do not enjoy the sort of widespread support in Congress that the other measures I've announced do," Rubio said. "And in order to successfully pass, these ideas will have to be crafted in a way that actually contribute to greater public safety, but also do not unnecessarily or unfairly infringe on the Second Amendment right of all law-abiding adults to protect themselves and their families, to hunt, or to participate in recreational shooting."
