Former Miami Mayor Philip Levine said Wednesday that if the Florida state legislature doesn’t act on guns, the people will push a referendum.
“If this legislature doesn’t act — as I said in my commercial — we will. We’ll go right to the people. We’ll pass a referendum,” Mr. Levine, Florida Democrat, said on CNN.
Mr. Levine is currently running for governor in the state, but said he wants to address the issue of gun laws now. As a former mayor, he explained that in Florida, mayors are prohibited from acting unilaterally on issues like gun legislation. He said he also wants to make changes to allow city officials to pass ordinances specific to their city.
The topic of gun control came back into the forefront last week when a gunman opened fire on the high school leaving 17 people dead in Parkland, Florida. The suspected shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, was a former student of the school who had a propensity to violence, according to disturbing social media posts. Police said he used an AR-15 to carry out the mass shooting.
Mr. Cruz was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and is being held without bond.
Student survivors of the shooting have taken to pushing for gun legislation and traveled to Tallahassee to pressure lawmakers to act. After a procedural vote to debate gun legislation was voted down Tuesday, students made signs and protested outside the statehouse.
They’re expected to remain in Tallahassee on Wednesday as well to continue demonstrations.
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