TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting at a Florida high school (all times local):
6:15 p.m.
The National Rifle Association has filed a federal lawsuit over gun control legislation Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed, saying it violates the Second Amendment by raising the age to buy guns from 18 to 21.
The lawsuit came just hours after Gov. Scott, a Republican, signed the compromise bill Friday afternoon.
Lawyers for the NRA want a federal judge to block the new age restriction from taking effect.
The new legislation 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, that killed 17 people.
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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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1:15 p.m.
A Florida judge has ordered that the suspect in a deadly school shooting rampage continue to be held without bond.
Nikolas Cruz, wearing an orange jumpsuit and looking down, made his first court appearance on 17 charges of first-degree attempted murder Friday. The 19-year-old accused of opening fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day was already being held without bond on 17 charges of murder.
His lawyer did not contest the judge’s order.
Cruz will be arraigned on the 34-count indictment Wednesday. His attorneys say Cruz will “stand mute before the court” and enter no plea. In typical practice, the judge will then enter a not guilty plea on Cruz’s behalf to continue the process.
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9:30 a.m.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg has been an outspoken advocate for stricter gun laws since a teenager with an AR-15 killed 17 people at his school.
Hogg’s mother, Rebecca Boldrick, says she contacted the FBI this week because threats against her family have continued to appear on Facebook. Boldrick had previously reached out to the FBI and local law enforcement last month, and she said the Broward Sheriff’s Office assigned a deputy to patrol her neighborhood.
Boldrick said she’s taking the threats seriously but isn’t letting them change her daily routine. She notes that her husband is a former FBI agent and carries a gun at all times.
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Midnight:
Authorities in Florida are releasing the panicked 911 calls related last month’s deadly school shooting as a gun-control bill sits on the governor’s desk.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday released audio of 10 of the 81 calls its 911 center received during the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead and its aftermath. Calls came from students hiding in classrooms and parents who were getting calls and text messages from their children.
Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott has yet to say whether he’ll sign a gun-control bill that challenges the National Rifle Association but falls short of what the Republicans and survivors of the massacre demanded. Scott says he wants to take his time and talk to the affected families. He has 15 days to sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature.
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