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Florida’s Marco Rubio Finds Himself at Center of Gun Debate, Again Florida’s Marco Rubio Finds Himself at Center of Gun Debate, Again
(about 3 hours later)
When a gunman slaughtered 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in 2016, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, described it as a moment of revelation — a tragedy so grave that it helped prompt his decision to seek a second term.When a gunman slaughtered 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in 2016, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, described it as a moment of revelation — a tragedy so grave that it helped prompt his decision to seek a second term.
A year and a half later, with no gun violence legislation having been enacted in the interim, Mr. Rubio is again at the center of a churning national debate about public safety and gun control. In a state now stricken by a second catastrophic shooting, Mr. Rubio is under intense scrutiny. So far, he has struck an unsteady balance between firmly supporting gun rights and appearing proactive in response to atrocities at home, with decidedly mixed results.A year and a half later, with no gun violence legislation having been enacted in the interim, Mr. Rubio is again at the center of a churning national debate about public safety and gun control. In a state now stricken by a second catastrophic shooting, Mr. Rubio is under intense scrutiny. So far, he has struck an unsteady balance between firmly supporting gun rights and appearing proactive in response to atrocities at home, with decidedly mixed results.
In a televised town hall-style meeting on CNN Wednesday night, Mr. Rubio gamely strained to convince grieving parents and students from Parkland, Fla., that they should view him as an ally. He suggested he might back specific new regulations on weaponry, perhaps including a ban on high-capacity magazines, which allow a gunman to fire a huge number of rounds without reloading.In a televised town hall-style meeting on CNN Wednesday night, Mr. Rubio gamely strained to convince grieving parents and students from Parkland, Fla., that they should view him as an ally. He suggested he might back specific new regulations on weaponry, perhaps including a ban on high-capacity magazines, which allow a gunman to fire a huge number of rounds without reloading.
But in a lengthy and emotional colloquy with Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter died in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Mr. Rubio politely refused to endorse a ban on assault weapons, drawing jeers from the audience and visibly frustrating Mr. Guttenberg.But in a lengthy and emotional colloquy with Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter died in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Mr. Rubio politely refused to endorse a ban on assault weapons, drawing jeers from the audience and visibly frustrating Mr. Guttenberg.
Mr. Rubio leaned further into a different idea on Thursday, saying in an interview that he might file legislation to ban certain large magazines, though he acknowledged that he had yet to settle on a specific proposal or discuss the idea with Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader.Mr. Rubio leaned further into a different idea on Thursday, saying in an interview that he might file legislation to ban certain large magazines, though he acknowledged that he had yet to settle on a specific proposal or discuss the idea with Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader.
“I hope that we can put together a package that I intend to be in the lead on, together with others,” Mr. Rubio said.“I hope that we can put together a package that I intend to be in the lead on, together with others,” Mr. Rubio said.
Mr. Rubio may face intense skepticism in that germinal effort from Democrats — who see him as frequently feinting toward political independence but seldom actually breaking with his party — and from fellow Republicans who are uncertain of his plans and motives. Absent support from Mr. McConnell and President Trump, who have not backed magazine restrictions, it is not clear Mr. Rubio has the clout to bring any such proposal to the Senate floor. Mr. Rubio may face intense skepticism in any such effort from Democrats, who see him as frequently feinting toward political independence but seldom actually breaking with his party, and from fellow Republicans who are uncertain of his plans and motives. Republicans have largely given Mr. Rubio a wide berth to respond to a tragedy in his home state, but he is likely to encounter significant resistance on the right in any effort to restrict magazine sales.
A former presidential candidate once known for his flourishing rhetoric and promises of political transformation, Mr. Rubio stressed that he is now focused on narrow and incremental ideas that might stand a chance of becoming law. He warned against “heading down the same path” lawmakers followed after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016. At the time, Mr. Rubio proposed stopping gun purchases for people who had appeared on a federal terrorism watch list in the previous decade, but that idea went nowhere. David Keene, a former president of the National Rifle Association who supported Mr. Rubio in his difficult race for the Senate in 2010, said magazine restrictions would be a nonstarter. “When something like this happens, politicians want to say: I did something,” Mr. Keene said. “Marco Rubio knows better, I think, than to think that’s a realistic response.”
Mr. Rubio also supports raising the minimum age to purchase semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21, an idea he said he mentioned to Mr. Trump on Friday when they flew together on Air Force One from Washington to West Palm Beach. The change has become necessary to update older laws that did not envision the widespread use of AR-15s and similar weapons in mass shootings, Mr. Rubio said. Since his defeat in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Mr. Rubio has tried to reorient himself as a man of the Senate — an institution for which he expressed little love during his first term — and make a deeper mark on legislation. He has exercised significant influence in matters of foreign policy, including toward Venezuela and Cuba, and, during the tax debate last year, forced Republicans leaders to modestly expand a refundable child tax credit he has long championed.
But in other matters, Mr. Rubio has taken a more muddled approach. He has castigated the Trump administration for its handling of Russia and threatened to vote down Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson’s nomination, only to back away from the confrontation. After advocating a comprehensive immigration overhaul under the Obama administration, Mr. Rubio opposed a bipartisan immigration deal this month, saying that it did not do enough to bolster enforcement.
On the Democratic side, a mood of cynicism tends to pervade discussions of Mr. Rubio: Representative Ted Deutch, a Democrat who joined Mr. Rubio in the Wednesday town hall and whose district includes Stoneman Douglas High, accused Mr. Rubio of favoring only “legislation that the N.R.A. can live with.”
Still, some Democrats welcomed Mr. Rubio’s apparent openness to new legislative options. Representative Charlie Crist of Florida, a Democrat and former Republican who was once Mr. Rubio’s bitter rival in a Senate primary, said Mr. Rubio’s comments offered reason for optimism.
“I’m encouraged by that, to be honest, and I hope that that evolution continues,” Mr. Crist said Thursday. “In the wake of an event such as this, that can happen.”
Mr. Crist, a onetime N.R.A. ally who now supports a ban on assault weapons, said much of Florida had undergone a similar reassessment of gun rights orthodoxy after two massacres in the state that targeted young people.
Pushing back on criticism from Mr. Deutch and others, Mr. Rubio fiercely disputed that he operates with great deference to the N.R.A. He countered that he is focused on practical ideas that might stand a chance of becoming law, and said the assault weapons ban favored by Parkland families is not among them.
“If that is what the expectation of what action is, by some, they’re going to be disappointed,” he said.
Mr. Rubio warned against “heading down the same path” lawmakers followed after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016. At the time, Mr. Rubio proposed stopping gun purchases for people who had appeared on a federal terrorism watch list in the previous decade, but that idea went nowhere.
Without going into detail, Mr. Rubio said on CNN and again in an interview on Thursday that he had become aware of information from law enforcement, arising from the Parkland shooting, that led him to reconsider the magazine limit.
“My position has always been that I would vote for anything that would make these shootings either less likely or less lethal — or both,” he said.
Precisely how to regulate magazine capacity is unclear, he added: “I don’t know what the right number is.”
In addition to restricting magazine sales, Mr. Rubio also supports raising the minimum age to purchase semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21, an idea he said he mentioned to Mr. Trump on Friday when they flew together on Air Force One from Washington to West Palm Beach. The change has become necessary to update older laws that did not envision the widespread use of AR-15s and similar weapons in mass shootings, Mr. Rubio said.
“I’ve never advocated for that in the past, because it largely has never been an issue before,” he said. “Our laws today reflect a time when dealing with gun violence was largely keeping handguns out of the possession of a gangbanger or street thug or what have you.“I’ve never advocated for that in the past, because it largely has never been an issue before,” he said. “Our laws today reflect a time when dealing with gun violence was largely keeping handguns out of the possession of a gangbanger or street thug or what have you.
“Obviously since this increase in mass shootings and the epidemic we now face, it’s now become more of a semiautomatic rifle-based tragedy, so our laws have to change to reflect that.”“Obviously since this increase in mass shootings and the epidemic we now face, it’s now become more of a semiautomatic rifle-based tragedy, so our laws have to change to reflect that.”
Whether Mr. Rubio has found himself back in the spotlight as a matter of chance, or placed himself there as a political choice, is a matter of some debate among his fellow Republicans, as well as some Democrats in Congress who would welcome his backing even for incremental gun measures. Students who disagreed with Mr. Rubio nevertheless thanked him for attending the televised meeting, unlike Mr. Trump and Gov. Rick Scott, who did not accept invitations from CNN. Whether Mr. Rubio has found himself back in the spotlight as a matter of chance, or placed himself there as a political choice, is a matter of some debate among his colleagues in Washington and Florida. Students who disagreed with Mr. Rubio nevertheless thanked him for attending the televised meeting, unlike Mr. Trump and Gov. Rick Scott, who did not accept invitations from CNN.
Representative Charlie Crist of Florida, a Democrat and former Republican who was once Mr. Rubio’s bitter rival in a Senate primary, said Mr. Rubio’s comments Wednesday night offered reason for optimism. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who appeared at the event with Mr. Rubio, also applauded Mr. Rubio for showing up. Still, Mr. Nelson demanded a far more expansive version of gun control than Mr. Rubio has been willing to consider, and a political adviser to Mr. Nelson said the two men had not conferred about specific bipartisan legislation.
“I’m encouraged by that, to be honest, and I hope that that evolution continues,” Mr. Crist said Thursday. “In the wake of an event such as this, that can happen.” “I think he recognizes that there may be productive incremental steps,” Pete Mitchell, a Nelson adviser, said of the senator. “But I think he made it pretty clear that the actual solution has to include — in his words — getting those weapons off the street.”
Mr. Crist, a former ally of the National Rifle Association who now supports a ban on assault weapons, said much of Florida had undergone a similar reassessment of gun rights orthodoxy after two massacres in the state that targeted young people.
Yet a mood of skepticism pervades discussion of Mr. Rubio in both Washington and Florida: The senator has amassed a reputation over the last year as a kind of permanently anguished Republican, musing repeatedly in anxious tones about breaking with his party on matters of conscience, but never quite following through.
A Democratic lawmaker who joined Mr. Rubio at the town hall, Representative Ted Deutch — whose district includes Stoneman Douglas High — suggested Mr. Rubio was only open to “legislation that the N.R.A. can live with,” which Mr. Deutch called inadequate.
Mr. Rubio, in both the town hall and a subsequent interview, fiercely disputed that he operates with deference to the N.R.A. He insisted, however, that the people who lived through the Parkland shooting were pursuing an unrealistic goal in pushing a ban on assault weapons, which he called both ineffective and politically implausible. “If that is what the expectation of what action is by some, they’re going to be disappointed,” Mr. Rubio said.
During the town hall, Mr. Rubio drew boos by refusing to reject political support from the N.R.A. And he told Mr. Guttenberg that a more effective focus than banning assault weapons would be to “make sure that dangerous criminals, people that are deranged, cannot buy any gun of any kind.”
Mr. Guttenberg, who told Mr. Rubio that his daughter, Jaime, had been shot in the back with a “weapon of war” while fleeing the Parkland gunman, was plainly frustrated. “Your answer speaks for itself,” he said.
Participating in the CNN event, Mr. Rubio’s allies said, reflected both his sense of duty and perhaps a certain masochistic streak in his personality. There were no illusions within his circle that Mr. Rubio would not face indignant and sometimes hostile questions — and loud jeers on national television — but Mr. Rubio decided to proceed all the same.Participating in the CNN event, Mr. Rubio’s allies said, reflected both his sense of duty and perhaps a certain masochistic streak in his personality. There were no illusions within his circle that Mr. Rubio would not face indignant and sometimes hostile questions — and loud jeers on national television — but Mr. Rubio decided to proceed all the same.
“No one forced me to run for re-election — I wasn’t even going to,” Mr. Rubio said on Thursday. “I chose this job, and I voluntarily chose to be in this position, because I want to make a difference.”“No one forced me to run for re-election — I wasn’t even going to,” Mr. Rubio said on Thursday. “I chose this job, and I voluntarily chose to be in this position, because I want to make a difference.”