The Big Picture
On the one-month anniversary of the Newtown tragedy, Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado broke ranks with the Republican Party to join Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Flanked by Carol Gardner, whose son was killed with an AK-47 in Liberty City last April, Regalado stood on the front steps of Miami City Hall to announce a new campaign against gun violence.
Giulio Sciorio
Suleiman Yousef purchased his first AR-15-style rifle in 2006, two years after the federal assault rifle ban expired.
Francisco Alvarado
Jorge Corbato has been making rifles in Miami for almost a decade.
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"I believe that it is important that we send this message," Regalado said.
The mayor's move is just one of dozens at the local, state, and federal levels seeking to curb Florida's lucrative, fascinating, and deadly love affair with firearms. But despite rising public support — 51 percent polled by CNN last month favor tighter controls — and a big push from President Obama, it looks increasingly probable that the status quo will remain.
The same day Feinstein presented her new assault weapons ban bill, CBS News reported she doesn't have the 60 votes from her colleagues to get it passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Even Democratic senators who crafted the 1994 ban, including Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Max Baucus of Montana, won't get behind her. In the GOP-dominated House, passage is even less likely.
There is a push on the state level in Florida to change gun laws, including a bill sponsored by Tallahassee Democratic Rep. Alan B. Williams to repeal Florida's Stand Your Ground law. But Florida's capitol remains dominated by the GOP, which is unlikely to back any reforms.
"Of course I support the ban, but the NRA is so powerful I don't believe it will pass," Spence-Jones says of the federal proposal, which won the support of the Miami City Commission in a recent resolution.
Local leaders have taken a few substantive steps since Sandy Hook. The Miami Police Department operates one of the nation's most aggressive gun buyback programs, in which the city exchanges Miami Heat tickets and supermarket vouchers for firearms. During two gun buybacks conducted in January, the city collected 209 guns, including two AK-47s and a Ruger Mini-14 sniper rifle.
And surprisingly, even many gun advocates — such as Corbato and Yousef — agree that some gun control measures make sense.
"I do believe we should have universal background checks," Corbato says. "You should not be able to meet a buyer in a Denny's parking lot and sell him a gun without knowing who he is. I think a large percentage of gun crimes are a result of sales like that."
Adds Yousef: "The national registry and universal background checks don't bother me, but everything else does."
Gwendolyn Evans, though, is not so sure tighter controls on firearms will prevent guns from falling into the hands of thugs. "Knowing the streets, I guarantee criminals will find a way around it," she says.
No gun ban or universal background check will bring justice for her slain son. Miami police still don't have any leads on who killed Ladarius. Bivins is still awaiting trial for the first attempt on his life.
"Every day, I feel something is missing in my life," Gwendolyn says. "My family has been broken and torn apart."
