Lawmakers agree not to vote this year on a plan to keep local governments from suing gunmakers and dealers.
By LUCY MORGAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 27, 1999
TALLAHASSEE -- In deference to last week's gun violence in suburban Denver, the Florida Legislature will not vote on a bill that would pre-empt cities and counties from filing lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers.
Monday, House Speaker John Thrasher said he asked Senate President Toni Jennings not to send the gun bill to the House, and she agreed. Thrasher said he and Gov. Jeb Bush think it's inappropriate to hear the bill in light of the deaths of 15 people at Columbine High School. Two of the dead were students who entered the school with bombs, shotguns and semiautomatic weapons before turning guns on themselves.
That means the bill, which had support from the National Rifle Association and many Republican legislators, is dead for this year's session, scheduled to end Friday.
"That's news to me," said Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the NRA. "This bill doesn't have anything to do with the Denver tragedy. It's a business issue where cities and counties are suing legitimate businesses."
The Senate had been scheduled to take up the bill today, but Thrasher said Jennings agreed late Monday that she would not send it to the House. Thrasher called Jennings and said he obtained her agreement while the Senate was still in session Monday night debating a telecommunications bill.
The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Charles Bronson, R-Satellite Beach, would prohibit cities and counties from filing product liability lawsuits against gun dealers and manufacturers and derail a lawsuit Miami-Dade County has filed against 26 manufacturers and dealers.
"That's incredible, wonderful, if true," said Miami-Dade Assistant County Attorney Jess McCarty when advised of the decision Monday night. "I'm stunned. I thought it was going to get heard tomorrow morning."It's too bad it takes a tragedy to get that result," McCarty added.
Thrasher delayed consideration of the gun bill immediately after the shooting last week, but a Jennings spokeswoman said the incident would not derail Senate consideration of the bill and suggested that the House might be overreacting.
Bronson and bill supporters have accused cities and counties of trying to fill their coffers with money from an onslaught of lawsuits against gun manufacturers in much the same way the states have profited from similar actions against tobacco companies.
On a related matter, the House approved a bill that would require any student caught bringing a gun to school to be detained until trained professionals can evaluate the child and determine whether he or she is a danger to others.
"For once, we're trying to treat the cause and get to the root of the problem of why kids are bringing guns to school," said Rep. Howard Futch, R-Melbourne Beach.
A similar bill filed in the Senate has not been heard by a committee, making it unlikely that the measure will become law this year.
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