In Florida, following the 2018 Parkland School Massacre, Republican governor Rick Scott, and the Republican Florida Legislature, passed a number of gun restrictions, including raising the hand gun ownership age to 21, and instituting Red Flag Laws.

The result was immediate. There were no more school shootings in Florida, and gun violence among young men dropped enormously. When the ownership age is 18, guns find their way into the hands of younger, stupider teens. But if a 16 year old tries to get a 21 year old to buy them a gun, a 21 yo is much more likely to tell them to Fuck Off.

But DiSantis isn't a Republican, he's an astonishingly stupid MAGA ape, and he lowered the ownership age back to 18, for no other reason than he's a fucking child, and thinks it's funny to see the Libtards get upset. So now gun violence between young people is an epidemic in Florida, including a return to school shootings. There had been no school shootings in Florida between Scott's age increase, and DiSantis' decrease. Now, nearly every day there is a new story of kids killing each other.

One recent story from my area was the death of a beautiful 15 year old girl, who was just sitting in the back seat of a friend's car at a Wawa gas station. A bunch of goons mistook the car for one owned by a guy they had beef with, and started firing into the car, killing her. That one's been getting a lot of play because the girl couldn't have been more innocent, but similar stories are playing out across Florida every day.

BTW, Rick Scott, now Senator, doesn't like to talk about this, lest MAGA voters find out that he once pushed and passed gun restriction legislation. When asked, he'll always give the same canned answer: "I just want to make sure that any legislation respects the 2nd Amendment." It's literally the only positive thing he's done in his entire corrupt political career, and he runs from it.

And it's worse than all that, because DiSantis also got rid of the need for a simple four-hour class in order to get a concealed carry permit. Now a teen can walk into a gun store, buy a gun, stick in his waistband, and head directly to the person he wants to kill.

I'm not naive enough to think that none of this was ever happening before, but the incidence of indiscriminate killing among teens has skyrocketed since DiSantis decided to teach the Libz a lesson. Clearly, the age of handgun ownership had a strong influence on the amount of teen gun violence, and THAT'S the kind of common sense gun restrictions that we should be supporting. Handguns don't need to be banned, we just need simple, reasonable restrictions on who can own them, and requiring proper training. We restrict automobile use, the types of vehicles allowed, and the age people can use them. You must be trained, and pass a written test, an eye test, and a driving test. Why? because cars are dangerous, and an irresponsible driver can kill a lot of people. Shouldn't guns be viewed in the same way?

I have a whole thing on why military-style guns should be prohibited, as they once were under Bill Clinton, but that's another bunch of paragraphs for another time.

What we have here is a white conservative larping as a black man.

You actually had me going until you said "cracker" unironically.

Caring about ARs is a "minimum performative effort" initiative. They're generally an expensive, niche firearm, so banning them actually impacts few people, but they're scary-looking, "military" weapons. AR bans are most likely to get public support, regardless of any actual impact on gun deaths. It's the firearm version of a transgender bathroom ban.