After the February 14 shooting in Parkland, Florida, which took 17 lives and spurred nationwide protests, the mayor of Coral Gables, Florida, was prepared to act. Raul Valdés-Fauli asked the city’s attorney general to draft a complete ban on assault weapons “capable of fully automatic, semiautomatic or burst fire,” including the AR-15 used by the Parkland killer, within city limits.
But the attorney advised Valdés-Fauli against proposing such an ordinance. The state’s retaliation would be too fierce, he was told.
