Like many people throughout Florida and across the nation, I have been praying for those that were murdered or injured in Parkland as well as for their families and the community. Our hearts are broken for them. The grief and sorrow being experienced by this community is no doubt crushing to their souls and we should continue to lift them up in prayer as they live in the aftermath of this tragedy. We should continue our prayers for the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School family and for the Parkland community. We must also come to grips with how this tragedy happened and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.
What happened in Parkland has not changed my position on government mandated “gun free zones” one iota. If anything, it has made my resolve to protect our citizens even greater. I have walked the walk in the gun rights debate in Tallahassee, advocating for open carry, campus carry and the elimination of government mandated gun free killing zones. Anyone interested can review my platform position on this issue at my website.
The sad truth is that what happened in Parkland could have and should have been prevented. The media has reported that numerous local, state and federal agencies, including law enforcement groups such as the FBI, had received warnings about Nikolas Cruz. The FBI admitted that it received these warnings weeks in advance of this tragedy, failing to recognize the threat and therefor not forwarding the information to the Miami field office for investigation. This systemic failure on the part of the FBI and multiple other government agencies led directly to the massacre at the high school.
Governor Rick Scott organized workshops at the Florida Department of Education (DOE), the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the Florida Sheriffs Association “to discuss ways to keep Florida students safe, including school safety improvements and keeping guns away from individuals struggling with mental illness.” These workshops are a good idea. I have no doubt that there are physical improvements which will make our schools safer. Regarding mental illness, to be brutally frank, a serious discussion regarding how we handle and fund treatment for mental illness in Florida is long overdue and not just as it relates to keeping firearms out of the hands of those that are “struggling with mental illness.” What a travesty that it took this tragic loss of life to begin this discussion.
However, make no mistake. It is not a cliché, but rather a cold hard fact, that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” For the protection of our students, faculty and staff, Governor Scott and the Florida Legislature must now come to agreement and proscribe by statute the specific conditions under which the concealed carry of firearms will be allowed in our public schools by faculty and administrative staff who choose to do so. We should also consider allowing retired law enforcement officers willing to volunteer their services to act as plain clothes school resource officers available to back up uniformed school resource officers at every public school campus.
These are not new ideas which makes the tragedy even more maddening. Various versions of school security legislation have been introduced in the Florida Legislature in recent years that would have provided for local school districts to adopt these kinds of security measures, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale. We cannot wait any longer. We need school security measures in place at every school that include active shooter response plans and additional training and education for members of faculty and staff with concealed carry permits that volunteer to carry on campus.
In our communities at large, those of us that are comfortable doing so must adopt the mindset that we are our own first responders. I have the utmost respect for the men and women that serve our communities as law enforcement officers. But they cannot be everywhere at once. It’s been said that you can always count on the police to be there in minutes when seconds count. That’s not a knock on law enforcement. It’s just reality, as so tragically proven at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. Never again Florida. Never again!
Bob White, the chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida, is running for governor.
