One hundred students from Parkland traveled to Florida’s capital today in the hopes that the state legislature would act on an assault weapons ban in the wake of the school shooting last week. They were disappointed, as the vote to open debate — not even a vote on the actual ban — was voted down with… Continue reading “Parkland kids travel to Tallahassee, see legislators refuse to consider assault weapons ban”
Photo © 2017 Eric Kobrin
It only takes one to get the ball rolling. Via the New York Times:
A prominent Republican political donor demanded on Saturday that the party pass legislation to restrict access to guns, and vowed not to contribute to any candidates or electioneering groups that did not support a ban on the sale of military-style firearms to civilians.
Al Hoffman Jr., a Florida-based real estate developer who was a leading fund-raiser for George W. Bush’s campaigns, said he would seek to marshal support among other Republican political donors for a renewed assault weapons ban.
“For how many years now have we been doing this — having these experiences of terrorism, mass killings — and how many years has it been that nothing’s been done?” Mr. Hoffman said in an interview. “It’s the end of the road for me.”
Mr. Hoffman announced his ultimatum in an email to half a dozen Republican leaders, including Jeb Bush and Gov. Rick Scott of Florida. He wrote in the email that he would not give money to Mr. Scott, who is considering a campaign for the Senate in 2018, or other Florida Republicans he has backed in the past, including Representative Brian Mast, if they did not support new gun legislation.
“I will not write another check unless they all support a ban on assault weapons,” he wrote. “Enough is enough!”
You can see more of the protesters’ signs here.
