TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — 4:45 p.m.
The National Rifle Association is expressing disappointment after Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a gun control bill that was written after a mass shooting at a high school killed 17 people.
Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, says the bill "punishes law-abiding gun owners for the criminal acts of a deranged individual."
The bill signed Friday raises the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21, extends a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases to include long guns and bans bump stocks that allow guns to mimic fully automatic fire. It also creates a so-called "guardian" program that enables teachers and other school employees to carry handguns.
The new measures come in the wake of the Feb. 14 shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
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3:15 p.m.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed a school safety bill passed by the Legislature in response to the Valentine's Day mass shooting that killed 17 people at a high school.
The bill signed Friday falls short of what Scott and the shooting's survivors wanted. It also marks Scott's break with the National Rifle Association.
It raises the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21, extends a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases to include long guns and bans bump stocks that allow guns to mimic fully automatic fire. It also creates a so-called "guardian" program that enables teachers and other school employees to carry handguns.
Student activists from the school where the shooting took place followed the bill's track closely and called it "a baby step."
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Florida Gov. Rick Scott is expected Friday to meet with families of the 17 people who were killed in a school shooting, and then sign a $400 million school safety bill with new gun controls opposed by the NRA and a plan to arm staff that teachers don't want.
State Rep. Jared Moskowitz — a Democrat who represents the South Florida district where the shooting happened — said in a text that Scott will sign the bill on Friday. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said the same.
"The community's demanding action, they want something done," said Rubio on CBS television. "I believe he'll sign it today."
The Legislature delivered the bill to Scott on Thursday. It narrowly passed the House and Senate, and falls short of what he wanted and what survivors of the massacre demanded. Florida's teachers' union and the National Rifle Association are opposed.
The measure would raise the minimum age to buy rifles from 18 to 21, extend a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases to include long guns, and ban bump stocks that allow guns to mimic fully automatic
