M-D Commissioner Proposes Six Gun-Control Measures
MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) – Six gun-control proposals were sent to the Florida Legislature at Tuesday's board meeting.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan introduced the measures following last week's mass shooting in Connecticut, CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald reported.
Jordan, a Democrat in a non-partisan post, sponsored six resolutions urging Congress and the Florida Legislature to take a variety of steps, ranging from reinstating a federal assault-weapons ban to allowing the county to keep a registry of privately owned guns.
Separately, Mayor Carlos Gimenez, a Republican, said he and Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho are planning a joint effort to examine security in the Miami-Dade school district.
"It's very difficult to guard against a madman who is willing to die at the end," Gimenez acknowledged. "We want to make sure we do whatever we can at our facilities."
Commissioner Esteban "Steve" Bovo said the issue is particularly important as Miami-Dade prepares to rebuild schools, following a bond issue voters approved last month.
"A lot of our older schools are wide open," he said.
Commissioners are scheduled to take up Jordan's measures later Tuesday.
Jordan's six proposals urge:
• the state to increase criminal penalties for people who use certain assault-weapon ammunition when they commit certain felonies;
• Congress and the state to require someone purchasing ammunition, other than law-enforcement officers and members of the military, to provide a driver's license or other picture ID;
• the state to increase the minimum mandatory prison sentence to 25 years from 15 years for people who have certain semiautomatic assault weapons in their possession when they commit certain felonies;
• Congress to close a "loophole" allowing gun-show sales to avoid background checks of gun purchasers, and the state to require those types of gun sales to require a background check;
• the state to allow local governments to register privately owned guns; and
• the state and Congress to ban possession or sale of gun magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed to this report.)
