Before filing this bill, Rudman says he was in contact with several parents of victims of the Parkland High School Shooting that took place in 2018. “The last thing I want in the State of Florida to think is we’ve got some redneck up there in the panhandle who doesn’t understand what we’ve been through and why these things are in place,” Rudman said, “So, I reached out to a Parkland parent who’s actually a part of the Parkland Association. They actually voiced their support. They said, ‘yeah, this is one of the things that we don’t actually feel is necessary.”

Rudman argues that this law doesn’t keep anyone safer. Many groups, such as Everytown for Gun Safety and the Giffords Foundation, dispute this claim and say homicides by gun are reduced by 17% in places. That 17% number comes from a National Institutes of Health study that compared homicide rates in states with waiting periods and states without one. A Rand Corporation study found waiting periods may reduce homicide rates but did not find any causal links between the two. The Rand Study found no associations between cooling-off periods and the reduction of mass shootings. Finally, that same Rand Study noted most mass shooters, like the one in Parkland, “the majority of prohibited possessors who perpetrate gun violence acquire their firearms from social acquaintances or the black market; thus, a large portion of violent gun crime is unlikely to be affected through this mechanism.”