The deeply wounded parents whose children were killed in the worst high school shooting since Columbine stood in the Florida Capitol and watched Gov. Rick Scott sign a bill that places new restrictions on guns. Hours later, the National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit to block it. This very well may be the straw that breaks the NRA’s back.  The new law capped an extraordinary three weeks of lobbying after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, with student survivors and grieving families working to persuade a Republican-run state government that had shunned gun control measures. Surrounded by family members of the 17 people killed in the Valentine’s Day shooting, the GOP governor said the bill balances “our individual rights with need for public safety.”

“It’s an example to the entire country that government can and has moved fast,” said Scott, whose state has been ruled for 20 years by gun-friendly Republican lawmakers.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School attend a memorial following the school shooting.

Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was killed in the shooting, read a statement from victims’ families: “When it comes to preventing future acts of horrific school violence, this is the beginning of the journey. We have paid a terrible price for this progress.”

The bill fell short of achieving the ban on assault-style weapons sought by survivors. The gunman who opened fire at the school used such a weapon, an AR-15 rifle.  Nevertheless, the bill 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, which allow guns to mimic fully automatic fire. It also creates a so-called guardian program enabling some teachers and other school employees to carry guns.

The NRA maintains that the measure “punishes law-abiding gun owners for the criminal acts of a deranged individual and that it violates citizens’ rights to bear arms, protected under the second amendment of the US constitution.  “If we want to prevent future atrocities, we must look for solutions that keep guns out of the hands of those who are a danger to themselves or others, while protecting the rights of law-abiding Americans,” Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement.

The problem with this kind of reasoning is that it is done in a vacuum without thinking it through.  What the 2nd Amendment is about is giving citizens the right to bear arms in the event that the government goes haywire.  The NRA claims this is our  case scenario protection.  They point to historic examples where a dictatorship has taken control of a country’s government because the unarmed citizens were not armed enough to stop it.  No one seems to be willing to look at the false assumptions that power this line of thinking.  Being armed is not really the issue.  Being trained is the issue.  As a good friend of mine pointed out, the NRA keeps talking about the people having the right to owning guns, but owning guns doesn’t matter nearly as much as the training,  “If a bunch of us formed a militia because we thought the government was going off the deep end, we might be able to assemble on our own something like fifty guys with guns.  Then, if we lucky enough to connect with another bunch of guys from the next county over, maybe we’d get our numbers up to a hundred men. We’d be armed, but not trained.  It would probably take about a half dozen trained Navy seals less than a day to wipe us all out.  It’s not about having the guns, it’s about having the skill set.”

Florida Governor Rick Scott with the parents of Parkland victims before signing the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act in the Governor’s office at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee on Friday Credit: AP

The NRA lobby group is also contesting the legislation under the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause, saying it discriminates against lawful gun owners between the ages of 18 and 20. The signing marked a major victory for the teens who lived through the attack and swiftly became the public faces of a renewed gun-control movement. Just days after the shooting, they began holding rallies, lobbying lawmakers and harnessing the power of social media in support of reform. The governor told the students: “You helped change our state. You made a difference. You should be proud.”

Scott, who said he’s an NRA member and will continue to be one, said he is still “not persuaded” about the guardian program that will let districts authorize staff members to carry handguns if they complete law enforcement training. It’s not mandatory. “If counties don’t want to do this, they can simply say no,” he said. “I know the debate on all these issues will continue. And that’s healthy in our democracy,” he said. “This is a time for all of us to come together, roll up our sleeves and get it done.” 

Student activists from the school called it “a baby step.”

Student survivors of the Parkland shooting protesting at the Flordia Governor’s office last month Credit: AP/ Gerald Herber

Broward County teachers union President Anna Fusco said teachers supported the bill but not the provision allowing them to carry guns. She said she wants Scott to veto the money for the guardian program when he receives the budget. The governor cannot veto individual items in the bill itself, but he does have line-item veto power with the budget. The Broward County school superintendent has already said he doesn’t want to participate in the program.

“Obviously, this is what we’ve been fighting for. It’s nowhere near the long-term solution,” said Chris Grady, a senior at Stoneman Douglas High. “It’s a baby step but a huge step at the same time. Florida hasn’t passed any legislation like this in God knows how long.”

The provisions fall short of what newly-energized student activists wanted, but still represent a degree of victory for gun control advocates in a state that has seen few such “victories.”  Perhaps because of the momentum created by the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., political leaders elsewhere are becoming bolder in their demands and public statements. Case in point: Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy’s recent assertion that the NRA had “in essence become a terrorist organization.”

As one might imagine, the Democratic governor’s words did not go over well with the National Rifle Association.  NPR’s Michel Martin asked Gov. Malloy to elaborate on his remarks.

In schools, the measure creates new mental health programs and establishes an anonymous tip line for reporting threats. It also seeks to improve communication between schools, law enforcement and state agencies.

Currently, 18 states and Washington, D.C., have expanded their background checks to include private sales, though implementation of these checks varies from state to state. Nevada passed a similar law, but it hasn’t been used. Residents recently sued Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval for failure to implement the law.  As the gun debate and the debate about background checks continues, here’s what you should know about how they work:

Theoretically, a background check identifies those who are prohibited from buying firearms. The core goal of a background check is to prevent guns from getting in the hands of dangerous people who want to harm themselves or others.  When a person goes to a licensed gun dealer to buy a gun, they fill out this form and answer questions about their background and criminal history. The dealer then contacts the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and sends the form and the person’s social security number. The NICS was launched in 1998 to provide information in minutes that before had taken up to five days.

The NICS scans information from three federal databases: 1) The National Crime Information Center (NCIC): Contains information about fugitives from justice, terrorists, and those subject to domestic violence protection orders. 2) Interstate Identification Index (III): Fingerprints of people charged with felonies or misdemeanors are submitted to this federal system by all states. 3) NICS Index: Created specifically for the NICS to help in conducting gun-related background checks. Local, state, tribal, and federal agencies contribute to this database any disqualifying information about people that isn’t otherwise available.

In at least 90 percent of cases, the background check is completed almost immediately. If the dealer gets the green light, the person can purchase the gun without further questions.  Since 1998, the NICS has processed more than 282 million federal background checks but the FBI says that number does not represent the total firearms sold.

Many states have their own laws and regulations as well. Sometimes background checks require more time. This can happen for a number of reasons, like if the person in question has a long history of criminal behavior or if the records are unclear or incomplete.  Under federal law, the FBI has three days to investigate further. If the dealer doesn’t hear from the FBI within three days, he or she can then sell the gun to the person requesting the background check.

It was this “default proceed” rule that allowed the gunman in the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting to purchase a gun. Nine congregants of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal were killed.  In that case, Dylann Roof was sold a gun because his background check wasn’t returned within three days. When the background check finally came back, he didn’t pass based on a drug charge.

The Emanuel AME Church is seen in Charleston, South Carolina, the day after a mass shooting during Bible study. The shooter didn’t pass a background check but was able to purchase a gun because his denial wasn’t returned within three days.

As of January 2018, the FBI had returned just over 1.5 million total denials. That represents only 0.5 percent of the total background checks in the 20 years the NICS has been in use. The gun dealer only sees the denial – he or she doesn’t get any information about why the background check was turned down. Most denials are caused by past criminal convictions. You also can be denied if you have had a restraining or protection order for domestic violence, if you are under indictment, or if you have been adjudicated for mental health.

Some buyers have gotten around the system by making illegal purchases on the black market, or having others with clean records buy the guns for them — they’re called “straw buyers.”  Several experts point out that the usefulness of the NICS depends on how complete the records are in the three databases it scans. Mental health records are problematic because they can sometimes be incomplete. And while the federal government can compel federal agencies like the military to provide information, breakdowns still happen.

NPR’s Tom Bowman reported in November 2017 that the Air Force failed to report the arrest and the conviction of Devin Patrick Kelley to the FBI. As a result, Kelley passed a background check and legally obtained a gun. He then killed 26 people, including children, at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. State and local records also pose a problem when keeping the federal databases up to date.

The FBI seal is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, D.C. Under current federal law, all licensed gun dealers must contact the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) run by the FBI before making a sale.

A 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics report said “it is widely understood and documented that state and local warrant systems have significantly more records than are reported to NCIC.” For example, one NICS database was missing more than 70 percent of state criminal records, according to a 2014 Justice Department survey.

Ari Freilich, a staff attorney at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, admits background checks aren’t the ultimate solution to gun violence. But, he says, they are an important first step. He compared the system to airport metal detectors.

“There’s two security lines,” he says. “One may be imperfect, may not capture everything, but it has metal detectors and it checks your bags, and one is just, anyone can walk on to the airplane.”

Meanwhile, the 19-year-old former student accused of assaulting the school went before a judge. Nikolas Cruz faces 17 counts of murder and attempted murder. In a brief hearing Friday, he stood with his head bowed as he appeared via video conference. Cruz’s public defender has said he will plead guilty if prosecutors take the death penalty off the table and sentence him to life in prison instead. Prosecutors have not announced a decision.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  The NRA has gone too far in fighting the new Florida gun measure.  It’s a case where a bunch of heartbroken kids and parents try to rise above a horrible tragedy and prevent it from happening again.  It won’t bring their kids back.  It is a noble effort.  And then, here comes the Big Bad NRA ready to stomp this noble effort into the ground.  To resurrect a battle cry from 60’s reform, “The whole world is watching.”  The NRA just made a big mistake.