Florida state Rep. Elizabeth Porter raised some hackles on the statehouse floor this week when she delivered an angry speech denouncing the Parkland survivors behind the #NeverAgain movement.
“We’ve been told we need to listen to the children and do what the children ask. Are there any children on this floor? Are there any children making laws?” she said during a state House debate over state gun control legislation Tuesday.
“Do we allow the children to tell us that we should pass a law that says, ‘No homework’? Or ‘You finish high school at the age of 12’ just because they want it so? No.
“The adults make the laws because we have the age. We have the wisdom. And we have the experience to make these laws. We have to make laws with our heads and not with our emotions. Because emotions will lead us astray. However, our common sense and our rationale will not.”
The comments did not sit well with a lot of prominent gun control activists, who found them demeaning, reductive, and in the case of #NeverAgain leader Cameron Kasky, “hilarious.”
“As long as the NRA keeps writing them big checks, we’re just a bunch of whiny brats,” he said in a subsequent tweet.
According to VoteSmart.org, Porter recieved a 100% rating from the NRA in 2017. The rating takes into account her voting history and public advocacy, as well as any of her responses to NRA questionnaires.
The day after Porter’s speech, the Florida Senate passed a gun control bill that proposes raising the age to buy guns, adding mental health provisions, and possible arming some school staff.