Sen. Rick Scott wants to do more to deter school shootings, such as the massacre at a Christian school in Nashville by a transgender man.
On one hand, as The Free Press reported on Saturday, the Florida Republican called for creating federal grants so states could help religious schools hire armed guards. Scott has proposed using some of the $80 billion President Joe Biden received for new IRS agents for this program.
But Scott also believes tougher penalties may help.
“We need to consider an automatic death penalty for school shooters,” Scott said on Twitter in the wake of last week’s shooting at Covenant Christian Academy.
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“Life in prison is not enough for the deranged monsters who go into our schools to kill innocent kids & educators.”
“Pray for all facing the unimaginable in Nashville. This is horrible & must stop,” he added.
In Nashville last week, police at the scene found and killed Audrey Hale, the murderer who fatally shot six people, including three children.
But often, school shooters don’t share Hale’s fate.
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Last November, for example, Nikolas Cruz, the killer behind the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which occurred when Scott was governor of Florida, was sentenced to life in prison for murdering 17 people, including 14 students. In that case, a judge followed the jury’s recommendation.
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