Ladra is lucky that her puppy is a graduating senior. The rest of you may need to start looking into home schooling after a group of Florida legislators on Tuesday voted to arm public school teachers — calling them “marshals.”
This is what House Bill 7101, proposed urgently by State Rep. Jose Oliva in the wake of the Valentine’s Day school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, would do. Because that’s what we learned we need most from this tragedy, more guns in schools.
If passed by the full House (maybe as early as Thursday), the law would allow up to ten teachers at each public school to be armed. There are 4,200 schools in our 67 counties, according to the Florida Department of Education. That would mean up to 42,000 guns in schools across the state.
“It’s no different than at the movie theatre, where there might be 10, 20 or 50 people with concealed firearms,” State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, chairman of the appropriations committee, told Ladra hours after the vote had been taken.
While there were many concerns about arming teachers — and many questions that are still unanswered — and despite Parkland survivors opposition to the bill, it passed 23-6, with four Democrats voting in favor: They are state reps Lori Berman (Boynton Beach), David Richardson (Miami Beach), Katie Edwards-Walpole (Sunrise) and Jared Moskowitz (Coral Springs). They must have felt like they had to vote yes because of the other parts of the bill — the ban on bump stocks, raising the legal age to own a gun from 18 to 21, a three-day waiting period for all  gun purchases and more power to law enforcement to confiscate firearms from anyone deemed potentially harmful. There was also the creation of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Public Safety Commission, training for school resource officers, threat assessment teams and mental health programs.
How could Dems vote against all these good ideas being held hostage to the longtime desire by GOP lawmakers to put guns in schools?
It’s almost like the legacy of Parkland will be armed teachers. How sad.
Democrat members of the committee tried to amend the bill. One proposed a ban on assault rifles. That was voted down along party lines. Another wanted to require some document from a medical professional stating that the applicant for a concealed firearm license is not a danger to himself or others. That didn’t pass either.
If the bill becomes law, it would require teachers who want to bring guns to class to undergo background checks and a 130-hour course. “It’s basically a police academy, an abridged version,” Trujillo said of the training. Each sheriff’s department or municipal police agencies like Miami-Dade Police are required to establish these training programs for teachers who want to opt into the “100 percent voluntary program,” where the district’s school board or superintendent has approved it. Trujillo, who has been tapped as the Ambassador to the UN by President Donald Trump,  said he didn’t know that Miami-Dade School Board Superintendent Alberto Carvalho had already blasted the idea. But, while everyone at the committee meeting said that superintendents could opt out, Trujillo told Ladra after the vote that Carvalho is not the last word.
“That’s his choice, but it’s up to the school board,” he said. He knows full well that the nonpartisan group is nonetheless majority Republican, even though one of those, Board Member Lubby Navarro, already came out against arming teachers at Sunday’s school safety town hall at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus.
The law would also give those teachers who opt in a $500 one-time stipend, we assume towards the purchase of a handgun — assault rifles cannot be concealed firearms and, as such, are not allowed — and/or ammunition. Ladra can see the list of supplies parents can donate on the blackboard at next year’s open house night: Copy paper, crayons and a box of .38-caliber conical wadcutters with a beveled base. Students get extra credit for hollow points.
Isn’t it an extra insult that theese lawmakers can’t find the funding to properly stock schools with the supplies and tools teachers need to teach but we’re going to pay them to carry guns?
That’s not the only question we have.
Are teachers the only ones who can volunteer? Can staff? Can the janitor be armed? How about the lunch lady? The bus driver? That’s not clear. We know students can’t carry. Except, maybe, for the problematic ones still in high school at 21, the legal age to carry a concealed weapon. That means 18-year-old high school students must leave their AR15s and Colt 45s in their cars in the parking lot.
“Students with guns! Ha! That’s a funny one, Ladra!” Trujillo sure didn’t think so. “Democrats could have offered an amendment to make the legal age 18,” he said, and Ladra does not think he was kidding.
What if an angry or unstable student is able to take a gun from a teacher? Who is responsible for what happens next?
What if a teacher with a gun is confused for an “active shooter” and is killed by police?
What if a student is killed by “friendly fire” from the teacher’s gun?
A retired teacher and self described gun enthusiast asked the lawmakers not to take this step.
“I don’t want to think about target acquisition. I don’t want to think about field of fire in my classroom,” the woman from Escambia County said, choking up. “Do not ask teachers to choose between shepherding students to safety or confronting a gunman, drawing fire toward my students.
“Depend on us to fiercely defend our students. And fund well-prepared law enforcement professionals to do the work they are supposed to do,” she said.
The mother of Scott Biegel, the geography teacher killed at Stoneman Douglas, also begged them to reconsider. Her son became a teacher to mold young minds, not to be “a law enforcement officer,” Linda Beigel Schulman said.
Trujillo kept stressing to Ladra that gun-toting at school is voluntary, but that doesn’t make parents feel better. What kind of teacher would volunteer to carry a gun in class? Could it be the teachers that already have “personnel” issues? The ones that will be in headlines about sleeping with students or selling drugs or writing porn scripts or something? Those will be first in line to get the guns. And others might feel forced to volunteer because, well, if there are going to be 10 guns at work, they want to have one of them.
Other teachers are going to quit.
That’s okay, though, we won’t need as many. Aalot of students are going to withdraw. Watch as full time virtual school and home schooling numbers boom. Wait… oh, wait… could this be a ploy by Republican legislators to get their friends’ more charter schools?
Teachers are people, too. They have emotions. They lose their tempers. Considering that we still have that oh-so-flexible “stand your ground” law in Florida, what happens if an unruly student becomes aggressive with a teacher? We’ve seen that before. And we’ve seen teachers lose their tempers and react inappropriately by striking students. What if that teacher who feels really threatened — or is just over a particular student’s stunts — pulls a gun on a student? You know that is going to happen. You just know.
“If I take a gun to school, someone is eventually going to get shot,” one teacher told Ladra. She teaches 5th grade.
Trujillo told Ladra that this program might be better suited for rural districts where a police station or officer is typically more than 20 minutes away. And where racism and homophobia are more prevalent, too.
Is that a bonus feature — voter suppression?
This “marshal program” is a poor substitute for real gun reform and school and community safety. It does nothing to stop the next school shooting. It only guarantees that bullets will fly in more directions.

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Miami-Dade is going to own Tallahassee this year.

Half of the leadership positions in the Florida House — the most powerful half — have gone to 305 legislators, giving the Miami-Dade delegation a louder voice in how priorities are sought and funded in the Sunshine State.

It starts at the top with State Reps. Jeanette Nuñez (R-West Kendall) as House Speaker pro tempore and Carlos Trujillo (R-Doral) as chair of the appropriations committee. Then we have State Rep. Jose Oliva (R-Miami Lakes), presumed the next Speaker of the House, serving as chair of the Rules & Policy Committee, and Reps. Jose Felix Diaz (R-Kendall) and Michael Bileca (R-Pinecrest) serving as chairmen of the Commerce and Education committees, respectively.

We haven’t had that many reps in leadership positions since… well, Ladra can’t remember when.

State Rep. and Speaker Pro Temp Jeanette Nuñez looks over the rest of the House leadership team from the 305 squad: (Clockwise from top left) Reps. Jose Oliva, Carlos Trujillo, Jose Felix Diaz and Michael Bileca

These are, arguably, the most important committees. And it could translate to a big year for Miami-Dade issues and projects. Tallahassee is a trickle up process. The agenda for those different policy areas are dictated by the chairmen of the committees. No education bill will move without Bileca’s approval. No bill on insurance, workman’s comp, gaming, energy, alcohol or tobacco will get to the floor without Pepi Diaz giving the green light. Oliva basically decides which bills make it to the floor, which Nuñez will now help run as Corcoran’s No. 2.

Appropriations is perhaps the most important because it has to do with the money. The pet projects all have to go through this committee — and Trujillo’s hands. He can rack up a ton of favors. 

“We are the leadership team,” Trujillo told Ladra. “Issues dealing with education, all policy, insurance and budget are controlled by Dade County. We have a seat at the table, influencing the decisions that are made.”

His priorities, he said, are going to be passing a balanced budget and increasing state reserves. “We will face a $1.8 billion dollar shortfall,” Trujillo told me about the upcoming session.

The number of local legislators in positions of leadership might be an indication that, after many years of infighting and bickering, the delegation has matured and there is a unified front that is gaining respect.

This could represent a legislative bounty for Miami-Dade residents in issues that are near and dear: changes in insurance rates, funding in education, funding for Jackson, funding for the Port of Miami.  

Nuñez, for example, has long waged war against MDX and their power to increase tolls. She may gain traction on this front this year because of the 305’s leadership role. Not necessarily because she will champion a bill. Committee chairs and Nuñez will be too busy to present their own bills this year. Its because she’s got more palanca now.

“People across the capitol and in the House know it’s important to the delegation,” Trujillo said.

What he didn’t say is that what’s important to the delegation just became important to them. Didn’t it? 

It should be a very good year for us.