- Press Release
Gun Safety Organizations & Florida Leaders Hold Press Call & Launch Mobile Billboard Ads in Response to HB 133
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [email protected]
Advocates and Community Leaders Held a Press Call to Denounce Proposed Bill Which Would Lower the Minimum Age to Purchase or Transfer Firearms.
TALLAHASSEE, FL — Today, March For Our Lives was joined by Newtown Action Alliance, Safe & Sound Hillsborough, and a student leader for a press call denouncing House Bill 133, a dangerous measure that would lower the minimum age to purchase or transfer a firearm in the state. You can watch a full recording of the event here.
In addition to the press call, March For Our Lives, in coalition with Ban Assault Weapons NOW, the Community Safety Collective, and Team ENOUGH launched mobile billboards today in Tallahassee against HB 133.
“Make no mistake, this is not an abstract policy debate,” said Jackie Corin, March For Our Lives Executive Director and Parkland survivor. “This is about whether Florida will protect young people or knowingly increase the risk of harm. It is about whether the state will stand by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, a law that was enacted to save lives, or erase it entirely.”
“The bill that Florida lawmakers could reverse was passed after my son hid in a crowded closet with his Parkland classmates,” remarked Angela Weber, Newtown Action Alliance Director of Community Engagement. “This is not just a Florida story. Florida matters greatly in the national context. If Florida rolls back this bipartisan, evidence-based law passed after one of the deadliest school shootings in our history, it sends a very different message nationwide that no safeguard is safe from being overturned.”
“Regardless of your party affiliation, regardless of where you live, every parent wants their child to be safe,” said Freddy Barton, Community Violence Intervention Practitioner at Safe & Sound Hillsborough. “Unfortunately, my organization has worked with and served over 400 young people just within the last two years, as young as 11 years of age, who thought it was okay to get a firearm. Yet, HB 133 addresses expanding the ability to provide a supply of guns to young people. We need to band together and let individuals know no young person should have access to guns at the age of 18. We need to keep the current law the way it is and focus more on prevention work.”
“With every passing year, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act is weakened, and HB 133 is just another example of how our state legislature is looking to weaken our community safety,” stated Andres Cubillos, a student activist. “Students, teachers and community members all across the state have been sharing their voices in unison, asking for this bill not to be passed. We’re not apathetic. Our communities have been impacted by gun violence directly, and the safety of our communities is in our hands. We have to be willing to look past our partisan agendas and recognize that bills like HB 133 do not make us safer, but more vulnerable.”
Across the state, other organizations in the coalition, including Change the Ref, the Visibility Brigade and the Newtown Action Alliance, hosted additional activations to demand that lawmakers reject HB 133.
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