Even Though Bill Fails, Gun Control Proponents Can Still Chalk Up A Victory
With a bunch of high school students from Parkland watching from the gallery, the State Legislature in Florida widely rejected bringing a measure to the floor that would ban assault weapons in the state. That proposal has been floating around in subcommittee for months. But even with new momentum, there was no way this bill was going to pass, and that really wasn’t even the point of the vote.
Rather, it was to force Republicans to put themselves on record opposing the ban. In order to achieve this, Democrats took the unusual step of calling for a vote that would’ve moved the measure immediately to the chamber floor for a vote. That motion was blocked 71-36. There are 76 Republicans in the Florida House, meaning virtually every single one voted against moving the motion forward, something Democrats hope will be remembered in upcoming elections.
