TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — One of the big changes as it results to gun laws in Florida is the implementation of “Red Flag Laws,” which are state regulations that authorize the confiscation of firearms from individuals deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.
After a jury couldn’t agree on the death penalty for Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who has been sentenced to life for opening fire and killing several at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Republican lawmakers in Tallahassee are proposing to make it easier to send condemned convicts to death row. Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Clearwater, introduced a bill in the house last month that would allow death sentences in cases when only eight jurors agree.
Florida law currently requires a unanimous agreement, or a judge would sentence a defendant to life in prison without parole.
Since the Parkland School shooting many schools across the country and in Florida have changed security and safety procedures. Some of which are schools teaching kindergarteners special songs to remember where to hide, more school resource officers and police officers in schools, parents buying bulletproof backpacks and teachers getting bulletproof whiteboards.
Cruz’s whereabouts in Florida’s prison system are unknown. The Department of Corrections has not released which prison Cruz has been sent to serve his life sentence.
The state can withhold this information – if it believes releasing it would create a security risk.