They were behind the scenes of the Parkland School shooting that led to Florida’s historic anti-gun laws, unseen in Republican-led states and even many liberal states.
To hear the story of one of the nation’s most horrific massacres from a team of gun law experts rattles the mind with what should have been the story of a man with no gun.
Luis Valdes, Florida State Director for Gun Owners of America since 2021, was a police officer in February 2018 when the massacre occurred. Valdes served in the Miami area and Florida’s rural panhandle for 15 years until he accepted his post at GOA. He attended the Parkland School shooting’s post-investigative session.
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He walked away disgusted and dismayed.
“From the session, Florida’s Second Amendment rights were clearly at risk, and secret, cascading errors that led to the shooting were appalling, revealing there was political and administrative malfeasance. Before the killer ever purchased a gun in his life, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas school – where the shooting occurred – received student and parental complaints about the killer which were never reported to law enforcement and never resulted in banning him from school property,” said Valdes. “Broward County’s then-sheriff, Scott Israel, never ordered an arrest or medical evaluation for the killer, despite about 30 law enforcement incidents that involved the killer allegedly committing threats, domestic violence and assaults.
“In some cases, the FBI and deputies failed to follow through on reporting. Had such actions been taken, the killer would never have been allowed to purchase a gun in the first place. Further, Sheriff Israel changed an internal law enforcement policy so that deputies could opt to confront shooters but were no longer required to do so,” Valdes continued. “The new sheriff reversed the policy to its original instructions, but unfortunately, sheriffs’ policies are under the jurisdiction of the sheriff, not the state governor. The policy can flip back and forth from one sheriff to the next. But despite all this malfeasance that caused this massacre, it just led to gun restrictions. I am also disappointed that neither Scott Israel nor the county school system have ever publicly apologized.”
Governor DeSantis fired Israel for incompetence and dereliction of duty that led to the killing of 14 students and three staff members and the injury of 17 others.
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But Valdes has a keen eye for the massacre’s big picture. He explained that the problems that led to the shooting began with President Obama’s 2014 “school to prison pipeline” philosophy.
Believing that juveniles with arrest records would become incapacitated as adults and resort to crime, Obama’s White House administration instructed schools to dump “zero-tolerance” policies and handle most behavioral problems, including fighting and weapons possession without law enforcement reporting.
Valdes believes this philosophy cost the nation dearly by dictating that officials sweep troubled juveniles under the rug. During this three-year policy change, the killer attended six different schools as internal authorities struggled to control him.
Obama’s philosophy and revised school discipline policy were rescinded under the first Trump administration.
Valdes lamented over Republican legislators caving to public concerns that were remiss of a full understanding of the problems. In August 2024, Gun Owners of America filed suit in the Southern District of Florida to argue that Florida’s open carry ban and under 21 purchase restrictions are unconstitutional and abused or improperly enforced. The active case is titled, “Gun Owners of America v Pearson.”
But Valdes believes the future looks promising to restore Florida gun rights. “Our Florida GOA membership is growing. Our live action here is an example of our no-compromise attitude. We don’t back from a fight and that is something Florida gun owners have been wanting. We are the most aggressive Second Amendment lobbyist and litigator in Florida. We had a large turnout of GOA members at the Capitol in 2023, demanding that open carry be added to the permitless carry bill. As a result, we achieved Governor Ron DeSantis’ public support.”
Valdes described what he needs from the gun-carrying public and GOA members.
“They must contact their lawmakers on the local and state level, including sheriffs, and civilly demand repeal of these unconstitutional laws. Members are encouraged to attend our Gun Owner Lobby Days in Tallahassee and our regional Second Amendment events.
GOA’s website is www.gunowners.org. It was established in 1976 and is headquartered in Springhill, Virginia. It currently serves over two million members.
“Mistakes happened long before the killer’s gun came out,” Valdes said, adding that while the public may have applauded the new gun restrictions, it didn’t cure the spirit of political and administrative malfeasance that occurred.
“It can happen again,” he said.
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