Governor Rick Scott Announces Plan to Keep Florida Students Safe

Rick Scott has announced a plan for $500 million in new funding for school safety and mental health programs. It will be partially implemented by abandoning the proposed $180 million in tax cuts for this year’s budget as well as calling for major changes in who can purchase a gun. Scott wants to ban the sale of firearms to anyone younger than 21 along with the sale and purchase of the so-called “bump stocks” which would become illegal as well. The accused gunman in the mass shooting at the Parkland school, Nikolas Cruz, is 19 years old. He bought his assault-style rifle legally as reported by the police department. Governor Scott is proposing a new type of violent threat restraining order that would allow firearms to be taken away from someone who would make threats. It would also allow police to hold someone’s firearms for 60 days after they’ve been involuntarily committed under the Baker Act. “Banning specific weapons and punishing law abiding citizens is not going to fix this,” Governor Scott said. “What we have to do is really focus on the problem – we’ve got to take all weapons away from people with mental illness, people who have violently threatened others.”

Of the $500 million he is requesting of the federal government, he says $450 million will go into ensuring that schools have better security to prevent events like the Stoneman Douglas Massacre from happening again. Specifically, he wants to have armed police officers at each school, one police officer for every thousand students. The other $50 million, however, will go towards mental health initiatives to expand service teams statewide. The money will provide access to counseling services for mental health counselors in every school. Schools will be required to implement a crisis intervention training for all school personnel. During his speech, the governor made it clear that he is an NRA member and a second amendment enthusiast and that he knew his plan wouldn’t resonate with all the citizens in the state but that it is what he thinks is right.

Aside from the armed guards, the money will additionally cover more improvements for certain schools in Florida such as bulletproof glass, metal detectors, and upgraded locks. President Trump tweeted recently that he will be looking into a law that will have teachers legally carry firearms on school premises to protect children. Rick Scott has said in response to this: “I refuse to arm teachers, I rather arm law enforcement.”