Sen. Rubio Endorses Demings-backed Plan on Guns

Press Release

Last night at a CNN Town Hall on gun policy, Florida Senator Marco Rubio publicly supported "gun violence restraining orders." He previously backed the idea on Twitter. U.S. Rep. Val Demings (Orlando, FL), a former police chief, is a cosponsor of the Gun Violence Restraining Order Act.

The act would set up procedures by which families can ask a local court to prevent a loved one from owning a firearm, if the court finds that the individual poses a risk of injury to themselves or others. Senator Nelson also backs the idea. The bill has 60 cosponsors in the U.S. House. However, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives has refused to move the bill forward.

Said Senator Rubio last night, "I've already announced ... a concept called a gun violence restraining order that allows authorities -- and it has to be someone in your immediate family, it has to be somebody you live with, it has to be a parent, it has to be an administrator -- can go to authorities and allow someone to not just be prevented from purchasing any firearm and allow those to be taken from them -- and the person will have due process…I support that and I hope they will pass that."

Said Rep. Demings, "I'm glad that Senator Rubio has supported this common-sense idea. Families are our first line of defense. If something is wrong, it is nearly always a loved one who notices first. The mother of the Parkland shooter called police dozens of times about her son. If this law had been in place, law enforcement officers might have been able to take the shooter's guns before he could use them on our children. I urge Senator Rubio to put his words into action and push his GOP colleagues to bring this proposal up for a vote."

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