ORLANDO, Fla — Florida state senators next month will embark on a new effort to study the development of mass shootings and potential legislative solutions to prevent future attacks.

• State senators will study development of mass shootings
• First of a series of meetings will happen September 16
• Among issues discussed: assault weapons, white nationalism, red flag laws

Senate President Bill Galvano is charging the Senate Committee on Infrastructure and Security to lead the effort.

“Our focus should be on steps the Senate can take to review and better understand the various factors involved in mass shootings, in addition to, and also including, school shootings,” Galvano said in a statement. “This includes white nationalism, which appears to be a factor not only with regard to these mass shootings, but also with other acts of violence we have seen across the country in recent years.”

The committee is scheduled to hold the first of a series of meetings September 16 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Tallahassee. Future committee hearings are expected to include testimony and public comment.

It is too early to know what depth the committee will give and to what issues will be given attention.

The committee is composed of five republicans and three democrats, including Democratic State Sen. Linda Stewart of Orlando.

“We’re going to look at everything. Nothing is being taken off the table,” Stewart said.

The marquee issues Stewart expects the committee discussion to include an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, red flag laws, mental health, and the influence of white nationalism.

Banning Assault Weapons

Various groups estimate there is anywhere between 5 million to 10 million privately owned assault weapons in the United States.

Separate from anything, the committee may push in a composite bill, Stewart is again introducing legislation to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

“How necessary is it that someone have a military style weapon that is greater and grander, and can shoot more than the police or our military,” Stewart said. “This is not something we need to have in Florida, nor do we need to have in the United States. We really need to think about how necessary it is for people to own these guns because it’s not protecting the general public.”

Various polls have shown a greater number of Americans support a ban on assault weapons. Those numbers range based on the poll. It includes 70 percent of voters who support a ban, according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. An August Fox News poll found two-thirds of Americans support such a ban, including 86 percent of identified Democrats, 46 percent of identified Republicans, and 58 percent of identified independents.

The same Fox News poll found 90 percent of Americans support expanded background checks.

Republican state lawmakers have blocked previous efforts by Democrats to pass various forms of firearm bans.

The group “Ban Assault Weapons NOW” is pushing the effort to get an assault weapons ban on the November 2020 ballot. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is challenging the petition at the Florida Supreme Court, saying the language of the ballot initiative is misleading.

“The topic itself has become so polarizing, it’s almost like everyone is shut off,” said Scott Bryan.

Bryan is general manager of Machine Gun America in Kissimmee, a store drawing locals and tourists alike, where they can fire off some of the most powerful weapons.

“There’s an adrenaline to it, they come out shaking with excitement saying, ‘Wow, that was awesome,’” Bryan said.

Bryan is not only manager of a firearms-focused retail store, but he’s a gun owner himself.

In the midst of growing political divide, he questions what an outright ban on assault weapons would accomplish in preventing terrorist attacks, citing other attacks where bombs and cargo trucks were the weapons of choice.

“Evil finds a way, so that’s always my question. If you’re going to disarm society, tell me what you’re going to do next to take evil out of men, because that’s not something you can do with a law,” Bryan said.

White Nationalism

To that point, Senate President Bill Galvano wants the safety committee to also address white nationalism’s influence on mass shootings.

“This includes white nationalism, which appears to be a factor not only with regard to these recent mass shootings, but also with other acts of violence we have seen across the country in recent years,” Galvano said in a letter to lawmakers.

The Florida chapter of the Anti-Defamation League reports a resurgence in white supremacy in the past three years.

“The white supremacist resurgence is driven in large part by the rise of the alt-right, the newest segment of the white supremacist movement,” ADL outlined in their findings. “Youth-oriented and overwhelmingly male, the alt-right has provided new energy to the movement, but has also been a destabilizing force, much as racist skinheads were to the movement in the 1980s and early 1990s.”

Earlier this month, Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Richard Clayton, 26 of Winter Park, accusing him of making threats to shoot people at an unspecified Walmart store in Central Florida in a racist and white supremacy-inspired attack.

Sen. Linda Stewart said she will be pushing for more funding to give FDLE additional manpower and resources to carry out online operations to better detect possible attacks.

“There’s not enough oversight at the federal level, and I think we need to protect the people of Florida, and that’s why I think we need FDLE to be more involved,” Stewart said.

While House Speaker Jose Olivia has condemned white nationalism and terrorist attacks in past comments, though he has not directed House members or committees to take up any similar efforts at the Senate.

What’s Next?

Time will tell what proposals the state committee puts into a composite bill for broad consideration.

Galvano said the expansive inquiry is meant to build on efforts made during the 2018 and 2019 legislative sessions, which followed the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Combined, the two sessions created requirements for schools to harden safety standards, expanded the school guardian program, and devotes at least $75 million for school mental health services.

Lawmakers also raised the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 and now requires a three-day waiting period for purchasing rifles and long guns.

Whatever the committee comes up with will likely face scrutiny in the full House and Senate.