Proposed law would create harsher penalties for kids who carry guns

TAMPA - Harsher penalties for kids who carry guns is one step closer to becoming law in Florida. The Florida House will hear a bill that would impose stricter penalties Wednesday.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri helped state lawmakers create the Juvenile Justice Bill.

"The laws need to change," Gualtieri said in December. "We need to get serious and we need to get tough and these kids need to get locked up. Send a message," he said.

The comments came at a press conference Gualtieri held after 23-year-old Abrille Baldwin’s death. He said her 14-year-old brother shot and killed her while Baldwin tried to break up an argument over Christmas presents between him and their 15-year-old brother on Christmas Eve. The 15-year-old then allegedly shot his brother.

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This proliferation of guns on the streets and guns in this area and guns in the hands of these kids, this is the worst I’ve ever seen," Gualtieri said at the press conference.

Both brothers had previous charges for possessing guns. Gualtieri said he suspects the guns used in the Largo shooting on Christmas Eve were stolen from unlocked cars, just like the guns involved in most crimes with teens in the area, officials said. They urge you to lock your doors and say don’t leave your guns in your car.

"And what happens to them? ‘Oh, well, you know, he’s only 14. He really doesn’t understand what’s going on. We'll just give him probation.’ It's not working. It is not working … enough of this slap on the wrist," Gualtieri said.

He said the legislation was in the works before Baldwin’s death.

"I really hope the Florida Legislature in the upcoming legislative session will get serious about it and will pass legislation that will hold these kids accountable and help us to slow this down because if we don’t slow it down, we’ve got a big problem," Gualtieri said.

The legislation would make minors’ first illegal possession of a gun a third-degree felony instead of a first-degree misdemeanor. It would also increase the amount of time a child could have to spend in a juvenile detention facility. A first-time offender would spend five days. A second time offender would spend 21 days and a third time offender would be committed to a juvenile residential program.

"We’re going to be safer as a result when we address these types of offenses," Representative Berny Jacques said.

Jacques is sponsoring House Bill 1191.

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"Secondly, this is going to help these young people because I saw it as a prosecutor in the adult court system. You had young people who were getting away with the same offenses as juveniles, but when they were in the adult system, it was much less forgiving," Jacques said.

The Fiscal Policy Committee in the Senate will hear the House’s companion bill there Thursday. 

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