A year after Parkland, we’ve seen incremental progress on sensible gun laws. Now the upcoming legislative session looks like it wants to expand the existing “Guardian” program and arm more teachers. Florida’s Republican leaders seem unified on that priority. Bad idea. The law of unintended consequences cannot be revoked.
But there’s also this. Why can’t the Legislature ban assault weapons? OK, that’s a rhetorical question, because we know the reality of spineless legislators and the influence of Marion Hammer and her NRA Second Amendment revisionists. But some things just shouldn’t be subject to political partisanship and leverage. If you’re not law enforcement or military, how do you make a rational case for owning assault weapons? That’s an assault on common sense. It’s also an inevitable, sure-fire assault on public safety and the common good, which ought to be the ultimate constituency.