In light of the Parkland shooting, lawmakers rushed to pass legislation that would prevent future shootings from happening.
Though controversial because of the measures it contained, a bill did pass in Florida, but dialogue is still being generated about whether or not the bill is enough and whether it infringes on 2nd amendment rights.
Now, Florida Agriculture Commissioner and Florida Governor candidate Adam Putnam, running to replace outgoing Governor Rick Scott who is term-limited, is adding to the conversation by pushing for mental health programs. He explains that the real issue of the Parkland shooting was the fact that 19 year old Nikolas Cruz “was a sick individual” who “should not have had a gun at 18, at 21 or 51.”
In a statement, he detailed that the correct response to curtail future shootings from happening is not to infringe on Americans’ second amendments rights as he believes the bill did by raising the age of purchasing a rifle from 18 to 21. He believes that strengthening school security and pushing for stronger mental health programs is the correct way to try to solve the problem. He noted that “We have to make changes to our campus layouts, to make improvements to harden our schools.” In turn, Putnam believes that the sunshine state needs to enlist more school resource officers.
