After 49 people were murdered at the Pulse nightclub in 2016, the Republican-led Florida Legislature blocked an effort by Democrats to call a special session to consider basic gun reforms that have wide support across party lines.
When the 2017 session rolled around, Democrats introduced bills to ban assault-style rifles, close a loophole that allows criminals to buy guns through private sales, and require mental health screenings for people who apply for a concealed weapon permit.
Florida Republicans countered with bills to allow guns at college campuses and airports and letting people carry their firearms in the open rather than concealed.
The gun-safety bills didn't pass, but neither did the Republicans' gun-insanity bills, which we suppose amounted to a hollow victory.
That should tell you a thing or two about Florida when — less than a year after what was then the worst shooting massacre in U.S. history — a victory is the Legislature failing to pass a law that would let Floridians walk around in the open, armed to the teeth.
That's what happens when mass murder is so easily forgotten, and that's partly why we have a sinking feeling that 2022 may be the year of the gun in Tallahassee.
The ingredients are there: a politically ambitious governor in Ron DeSantis, who needs new red-meat issues to feed the conservative base ahead of his re-election bid next year. A Legislature with House and Senate leaders who have shown no inclination to challenge any part of the governor's agenda.
And, finally, the benefit of sufficient time having passed since Florida's Pulse and Parkland massacres for memories of the horror to dim, and for pro-gun political opportunity to re-emerge.
