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Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts regarding the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Understanding your views helps me better represent Florida in the United States Senate, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.
As you know, on February 14, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where the lives of 14 students and 3 faculty members were senselessly taken. As a Floridian and father of 4, my heart breaks for the victims’ families, friends and loved ones.
The tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was the result of multiple system failures, and requires a multi-faceted approach to prevent future mass shootings. I am committed to working with my colleagues in Congress to create a more effective system to prevent gun violence.
Our schools are woefully unprepared to prevent an attack before it occurs. By the fall of 2016, both school officials and law enforcement knew the Parkland shooter posed a serious danger, yet nothing happened to stop him from buying a rifle. Currently, there are insufficient programs in place to report dangerous individuals, like the Parkland shooter, and to coordinate between law enforcement, school officials, and mental health experts. This is why I am an original cosponsor of the STOP School Violence Act (S. 2495), which was introduced on March 5, 2018. This bill will strengthen school security, provide training to identify threats, and create crisis intervention teams that coordinate law enforcement and school personnel to identify students who may pose a violent threat and intervene to stop them before they act. I am pleased the House of Representatives passed a similar bill (H.R. 4909) on March 14, 2018 by a vote 407-10. It passed the Senate as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 on March 23, 2018, which President Trump signed into law that same day.
On March 22, 2018, I introduced the ABCs in School Discipline Act (S. 2618) to help protect our schools by preventing federal funds from being used to establish school discipline policies that discourage reporting dangerous student behavior to law enforcement. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
In addition, I am a cosponsor of the School Safety and Mental Health Services Improvement Act (S. 2513), which enables schools to use federal funds to improve their physical security, and training of personnel to better identify and respond to school related violence. The bill would also prevent schools from adopting policies that discourage faculty from reporting violent or threatening behavior of students to law enforcement. S. 2513 was introduced on March 7, 2018 and referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
There are other common sense measures that can prevent shootings in the future. The Fix NICS Act improves the background check system and ensures that individuals who should not be able to purchase or possess a firearm are not improperly passing background checks due to lack of information in the background check system. This helps ensure that firearms stay out of the hands of individuals with a history of violence or mental illness. I am also a cosponsor of this legislation. The bill was introduced on November 11, 2017, and passed the House on March 22, 2018, and the Senate on March 23, 2018 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (H.R. 1625), which President Trump signed into law that same day.
I am also a cosponsor of the NICS Denial Notification Act (S. 2492). This bill would reinforce the background check system by requiring the federal government to notify states when a prohibited person attempts to purchase a firearm but fails to pass a background check. This action would strengthen communication between federal and state law enforcement and increase prosecutions of these individuals. This bill was introduced on March 5, 2018, and has been referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. A House companion bill (H.R. 4471) was introduced on November 28, 2017 and has been referred to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
Another unfortunate lesson that has been learned is the fact that we lack tools for law enforcement or families to take away guns from someone in their community they know is a danger to themselves or others. I am working to change this by incentivizing states to enact extreme violence protection orders, or sometimes referred to as “red flag laws.” Under my proposed law, the Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act (S. 2607), introduced in the Senate on March 22, 2018, grants would go to states that enact policies that seek to empower families or law enforcement to prevent dangerous individuals from purchasing or possessing firearms, with due process protections. This is modeled after Florida’s recently enacted risk protection order law. Florida became the sixth state to enact such laws, with hopefully more to follow. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
The tragic day of February 14, 2018 will continue to bring us great sorrow. Like many of the parents, students and teachers that I have met with since that day, I am turning that sorrow into actions that can get accomplished. I am committed to working with my Senate colleagues to implement common sense measures that will prevent such a tragedy from happening again, without unnecessarily infringing on the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens.
It is an honor and a privilege to serve as your United States Senator. I will keep your thoughts in mind as I consider these issues and continue working to ensure America remains a safe and prosperous nation.
Sincerely,
Marco Rubio
United States Senator
