Florida plans to increase legal age for owning automatic weapons from 18 to 21

Florida has begun moves to tighten gun controls amid a nationwide outcry led by students who survived last week’s school shooting that left 17 people dead.

State lawmakers are drafting new measures that could provide the first crack in America’s stubborn resistance to any attempts to water down laws protecting the right to bear arms.

If passed, the Florida legislation will raise the legal age of possession of an assault rifle - such as the AR-15 semi-automatic used by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz in the killing spree at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School - from 18 to 21.

It would also ban “bump stocks” allow rifles to be fires more rapidly, and allow police to temporarily strip weapons from people deemed a possible threat.

The Florida move comes after the White House hinted that President Trump may be open to increasing gun restrictions in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting rampage.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Mr Trump may consider improvements in federal background checks for prospective gun buyers, although he has stopped short of backing any proposed legislation.

The cautious steps towards tighter gun controls made by the Florida legislature and the White House still fall far short of the assault weapons ban being demanded by the grieving Parkland high school students.

But they nevertheless represent a significant breakthrough for gun control advocates who have been sidelined in the past, even after such atrocities as the Sandy Hook massacre in December 2012 when 20 children aged between six and seven-years-old were shot in their primary school classrooms.

The Florida proposals, led by Republican senators, are especially relevant to last week’s gun attack.

Under the new laws, Cruz would not have been allowed to legally own an assault rifle and the authorities would have been able to act on threats made by the troubled youth on social media by removing his guns.

“There is no reason I should be safer in the state capitol than our children are in their schools,” said Florida State Senator Bill Galvano, who is leading the gun control initiative. “Enough is enough something must change.

“We owe it to victims of families on what I now consider the absolute most important issue of the session.”

The plan would also add a three-day waiting period for rifle purchases.

Shackled and wearing a bright red prison uniform, Cruz appeared in court yesterday in Broward County, Florida. He kept his head down and said nothing during the short hearing.

Defence lawyer Melissa McNeill has said she will seek a plea deal in which Cruz will plead guilty to 17 counts of murder if prosecutors do not seek the death penalty.

Spearheading a growing youth movement for change, 100 students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be travelling to Tallahassee, Florida’s state capital, today to meet with lawmakers.

Florida Carry, a gun rights group, says it will fight any attempt to raise the age to own an assault rifle. Instead, it is calling for emergency legislation to arm teachers in the classroom.