WFSU by Robbie Gaffney
March 22, 2019
A bill in the Florida legislature would remove from public record video, audio, or images of mass violence victims.
If the bill is passed, the public would not be allowed to get photos, videos, or audio recordings of someone dying in an act of mass violence. The proposal defines mass violence as a crime that involves the murder of three or more people, not including the perpetrator. Examples include the Pulse Night Club and Parkland school shootings. But Republican Sen. Aaron Bean has concerns on what qualifies as “mass violence”.
“You put a number. You put a number on what a mass killing is and you put that number as three. Where did three come from and why can’t it be two? Why can’t it be one?” asks Bean.
Republican Sen. Tom Lee is sponsoring the bill.
“The idea here was to come up with something tied to federal—Tied to a definition in current law. There are several. There’s four. There’s five. But the one that seemed to stick out most to us was the one I referred to earlier, I think it’s used by the FBI which is three or more,” he says.