Florida Mayors Face $5,000 Fines If They Impose Stricter Gun Rules

Local Florida lawmakers who attempt to enact their own gun-control regulations in the wake of last week's high school massacre in which 17 were shot dead could be fined up to $5,000 for breaking the law.

That's because in 2011 the Republican-controlled state legislature created the fine to strengthen the Sunshine State's longtime ban on cities and counties imposing their own gun-control rules, the Miami Herald reports.

"I think it's outrageous. Why should the cities be prohibited from protecting their citizens?" South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard, a Democrat, told the Miami Herald.

Sally Heyman, a former state lawmaker who is now one of six Democrats on the County Commission in Miami-Dade, told the newspaper, "We can't do a damn thing at the city or county level, or we will be punished. I've been there with the deaf ears in Tallahassee."

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll, conducted after the bloodbath at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, found that more than 60 percent of Americans say President Donald Trump and Congress are not doing enough to prevent mass shootings.

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