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☆ DeSantis' 'Freedom Blueprint' for Florida is taking shape, and it's widely viewed as paving the way for a 2024 presidential run
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It's widely viewed as a blueprint for theHe has already made some of his intentions clear, on areas from Disney to anti-China policy. DeSantis will ask the Florida legislature to permanently lift the state's 6% sales tax on baby necessities including on cribs, strollers, clothing, shoes, wipes, and diapers. He also wants the state to nix the sales tax on medical equipment and on medicines for pets. Other tax cuts would be temporary, including lifting the sales tax for a year on children's books, athletic equipment, and toys, as well as a proposal to suspend the sales tax on pet food and on household items that cost $25 or less. Loosening gun restrictionsDeSantis wants lawmakers to pass legislation that would change Florida law so that gun owners could carry a gun in public without a concealed weapons permit.

☆ The start of 2023 means carrying a gun without a license is now legal in half of US states: 'Lipstick, an iPhone, maybe a little Smith & Wesson .38'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Alabama's permitless carry law went into effect with the start of the new year. Over the past two decades, gun control laws have weakened at the state and federal levels. The law signaled a gun rights landmark for the US: Now, half of the 50 states allow people to carry handguns without permits. More than 600 mass shootings transpired in the US in 2022, making it the second-highest annual total for mass shootings on record, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit tracking gun violence. There were more mass shootings in the last half decade than in any other five-year period going back to 1966, the Marshall Project found last year.

☆ Sandy Hook families focus on pushing for change, decade after shooting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Daniel Fastenberg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] A general view of Sandy Hook prior to the 10th remembrance of the Sandy Hook school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, U.S., December 8, 2022. He was among 20 first graders gunned down inside Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 2012. At least 11 school shooting plots have been foiled in recent years because of the training Sandy Hook Promise provided, the group says. Speakers included former U.S. President Barack Obama, who was in the White House when the Sandy Hook shooting took place. Mark Barden, whose son, Daniel, was killed at Sandy Hook, co-founded Sandy Hook Promise with Hockley.

☆ 'Red flag' gun laws in focus after attack at Colorado LGBTQ nightclub
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Authorities do not appear to have filed a petition seeking to confiscate any weapons Aldrich may have had at the time under the state's red flag law. RED FLAG OPPOSITIONThe disparity partly reflects deep opposition to red flag laws among some of Colorado's conservative sheriffs and local political officials. While El Paso Sheriff Bill Elder has voiced skepticism about "sanctuary" declarations, he opposed the red flag law over due process concerns, according to local media reports in 2019. The National Rifle Association opposes red flag laws as unconstitutional infringements on law-abiding citizens. Studies on the effectiveness of red flag laws are limited but suggest they can make a real difference.

Community organizer Maxwell Frost won his Florida race for Congress on Tuesday, NBC News projected, making him the first member of Generation Z to reach the House of Representatives. Frost, 25, beat Republican Calvin Wimbish, a retired 72-year-old Army Green Beret, to take the Orlando-based 10th Congressional District seat now held by Democrat Val Demings. Frost will stand out among his soon-to-be peers in the halls of Congress where the average age of House members is 58. (Gen Z generally refers to those born in the late 1990s to the early 2010s.) “We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future.

☆ Elon Musk tells his Twitter followers to vote for Republicans the day before the midterms, despite saying Twitter should be 'politically neutral'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk told his followers on Monday to elect a Republican Congress in the midterm elections. In August, Musk was reportedly a VIP guest of House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy at his annual donor retreat. Musk announced in May that he would vote Republican in the upcoming election cycle after years of voting for Democrats. Responding to Musk's tweet, Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman tweeted that Musk has "long been friendly with Kevin McCarthy." Reuters journalist Kanishka Raj Singh dug up a tweet from Musk in April in which he said Twitter should be politically neutral.

☆ Parkland school shooter expected to get life in prison without parole after emotional victims’ statements
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Antonio Planas | Antonio Planas Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Following dramatic statements from victims and victims' families, a Florida judge is expected to formally sentence Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz to life in prison without parole Wednesday for the 2018 campus massacre that killed 14 students and three staff members. Amy Beth Bennett / Pool/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP fileProsecutors had sought the death penalty, while the defense had asked for life in prison. The jury’s decision on Oct. 13 shook family members of victims who were visibly distraught by the verdict. On Tuesday, survivors of the shooting and victims’ loved ones had the chance to deliver impact statements before the sentence was formally announced. “Whatever pain you experience in prison will unfortunately be a fraction of what Ben endured,” his father, Eric Wikander, said.

Nov 2 (Reuters) - A Florida judge was due to formally sentence Nikolas Cruz, the man who killed 17 students and staff with a semi-automatic rifle at a school in Parkland, to life in prison on Wednesday. A jury voted last month to spare Cruz, 24, the death penalty, instead choosing life in prison without possibility of parole for one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Cruz pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder, then faced the three-month penalty trial earlier this year. A number of victims' relatives castigated the jury's decision and criticized a state law requirement that all 12 jurors be unanimous in order to sentence a convicted person to be executed. Many victims' relatives directly addressed Cruz, who sat inscrutable behind large spectacles and a COVID-19 mask at a table alongside his public defenders.

☆ Parkland school shooter faces victims in court in sentencing hearing
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The sentencing of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz began Tuesday with victims and family members sharing their heartbreak before him in court. With so many who wish to be heard, the actual sentencing is expected to take place Wednesday, according to the Broward State Attorney’s Office. Stacey Lippel, a teacher at Parkland who was shot and survived, told Cruz: “You don’t know me but you tried to kill me." “Whatever pain you experience in prison will unfortunately be a fraction of what Ben endured,” his father, Eric Wikander, said. The jury’s recommendation of life in prison last month, was met with tears and outrage by family members of the victims, with many saying the shooter deserved the death penalty.

☆ On Día de los Muertos, communities honor and remember the Uvalde school shooting children and teachers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Edwin-Head-Shot-Copy.Jpg | Edwin Flores | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Maite was one of the 19 children who were killed, along with two teachers, in the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May. This year, the faces of the 19 children who died in Uvalde were at the top of altars throughout the country. In the corner, next to two desks and a chalkboard, is a pecan tree, which represents Robb Elementary School. In Houston, the nonprofit arts and culture group Multicultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts (MECA) honored the 21 Uvalde victims, including murals with the children's names. The Marcha de los Niños, or March of the Children, will take place in several cities in a special tribute to the Uvalde victims.

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Grieving relatives of the 17 students and teachers killed in a 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, confronted the killer, Nikolas Cruz, with tearful, angry words as his sentencing hearing began on Tuesday. The jury voted to spare Cruz from the death penalty for one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, a decision several survivors' relatives decried in court as injustice. [1/4] Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz enters the courtroom for the sentencing hearing in Cruz’s trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, U.S. on Monday, Nov. 1, 2022. Cruz was 19 at the time of his attack and had been expelled from the school. Florida law requires that Scherer must follow the jury's recommendation in formally sentencing Cruz.

Since 2013, this is how many people have been killed and injured in school shootings, according to a school shooting tracker that NBC News is making public. The tracker focuses on the segment of school shootings where an active shooter, with intent to harm, injures or kills at least one student or faculty member during school or at a school event. Read the full NBC News criteria for school shootings, including the FBI’s definition of an active shooter, below. The NBC News school shooting tracker includes shootings that meet these criteria:One or more active shooters. Shooting events are recorded and evaluated as new information becomes available, and are added to our published dataset of school shootings when it’s determined an incident meets the NBC News standard for school shootings.

☆ Florida prosecutors file motion to interview Parkland shooter trial juror after alleged threat from co-juror
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Marlene Lenthang | Marlene Lenthang Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Prosecutors in the high-profile Parkland school shooter trial have filed a motion to have law enforcement interview a juror who reported feeling threatened by a peer on the panel. The motion by the Broward County State Attorney's Office was filed Thursday evening. According to the motion, a juror referred to as “Juror X” called the state attorney’s office around 2 p.m. and requested to speak with Assistant State Attorney Michael Satz, the lead prosecutor in the trial. The motion requests that law enforcement, rather than the court, conduct the interview with Juror X. Ultimately the aggravating factors did not outweigh the mitigating factors, the jury found, and the shooter was sentenced to life.

☆ Watch: Jan. 6 Committee Votes to Subpoena Former President Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Family Members of Parkland Victims React to Nikolas Cruz Verdict Family members of victims in the Parkland school shooting responded on Thursday after a Florida jury recommended life imprisonment without parole for Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Photo: Amy Beth Bennett/Press Pool

☆ Unseen Jan. 6 Video Shows Lawmakers Respond to Capitol Attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Ron DeSantis said it's a 'miscarriage of justice' that the Parkland shooter got a life sentence instead of the death penalty
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis weighed in on the jury's verdict on the Parkland shooter. Ron DeSantis says the Parkland shooter should have been given the death penalty and not a life sentence in prison. "I think that — if you have a death penalty at all — this is a case where you're massacring those students with premeditation, in utter disregard for basic humanity, that you deserve the death penalty," DeSantis said. Jury foreman Benjamin Thomas told CBS Miami that all but one of the twelve jurors thought the gunman should be given the death penalty. All the jurors would have had to unanimously agree to recommend the death penalty.

☆ Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz spared death penalty. Victims' families might be better off.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Emilia Benton | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Though many were shocked he didn’t receive the death penalty, and many victims’ family members were visibly upset by the decision, it’s wrong to assume this would have automatically brought them solace. The lengthy proceedings stirred up decades-old memories of waiting to find out whether my own mother’s murderer would receive the death penalty. It’s the prime example people use when they’re surprised to learn I’m not fervently in favor of the death penalty. Sometimes family members of victims do have clear-cut feelings that the death penalty is needed. It’s time for everyone in this country, from lawmakers to the general public, to prioritize the effect of the death penalty on a victim’s survivors over their own political ideologies.

A jury reached its decision Thursday in the penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz, who gunned down 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. The trial was to decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or the death penalty. The decision by the 12-person jury was determined about three months after opening statements began July 18 and after the jury received deliberation instructions Wednesday. The jury has to reach a unanimous decision for the death sentence. The gunman, then 19, had stormed the high school on Valentine’s Day wielding an AR-15-style rifle and releasing a spray of bullets.

☆ Florida jury says man who confessed to Parkland school shooting should be sentenced to death
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Brian Ellsworth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Pool via REUTERSOct 13 (Reuters) - Jurors determined Thursday that Nikolas Cruz should be sentenced to death for a 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people. Jurors determined in at least one of the murders that there were aggravating factors that would support a death sentence, but in other cases they did not. Cruz, 24, had pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Under Florida law, a death sentence could only have been handed down if jurors had unanimously recommended he be executed. The Parkland shooting had led to renewed calls for tighter gun control in the United States.

Nikolas Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Fort Lauderdale. After hearing her instructions, the jurors were escorted from the courtroom to begin sequestered deliberations. Scherer had counseled jurors on Tuesday to bring "at least a few days" of clothing and medication to have with them during deliberations. Scherer took about an hour Wednesday to instruct the jurors on the law governing their decision. In his guilty plea, he said he was "very sorry" and asked to be given a chance to help others.

Nikolas Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Fort Lauderdale. The Valentine's Day school shooting was among the deadliest in U.S. history. Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer recommended that jurors take "at least a few days" of clothing and medication. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings. Cruz was 19 and had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas at the time of the massacre.

Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association (NRA), speaks at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum during the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Houston, Texas, U.S. May 27, 2022. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File PhotoNEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered the dismissal of a National Rifle Association lawsuit accusing a New York regulator of stifling its speech by pressuring banks and insurers to stop doing business with the gun rights group. A lower court judge in March 2021 dismissed all claims apart from two free speech claims against Vullo, but the appeals court said those should have also been dismissed. The NRA, which is incorporated in New York, faces a separate investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James into alleged corruption within the group. The case is National Rifle Association of America v Vullo, 2nd U.S.

☆ Judge in Parkland school shooter case refuses to step down
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

There was “absolutely no chance” Scherer would quit the case, said Bob Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s law school. Scherer, a former prosecutor, had never overseen a first-degree murder trial before being assigned the Cruz case. The prosecution, having expected the defense case to last much longer, wasn’t prepared to begin its rebuttal case. “This is the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case,” Scherer said. “If I would have known earlier this was going to be happening, I would not have dragged you in here,” Scherer told the jurors.

☆ Factbox: Mass shootings in the U.S. from Club Q to Pulse nightclub
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] A police officer sits in their vehicle while responding to a mass shooting at the Club Q gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S., November 20, 2022. - BUFFALO, May 14, 2022 - A white gunman killed 10 Black people inside a supermarket in a racially motivated attack. - ORLANDO, June 12, 2016 - A gunman fatally shot 49 people at Pulse, a gay nightclub, before he was shot dead by police. - WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2013 - A former Navy reservist working as a government contractor killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard. - AURORA, July 20, 2012 - A masked gunman killed 12 people at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado.

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