The Florida Legislature's Republican leaders moved closer to producing a gun control reform package Thursday, with Senate President Joe Negron signalling his willingness to allow debate on a Democratic proposal to ban assault weapons.

An across-the-board ban has been left out of the soon-to-be released package, with Republicans arguing that banning assault weapons -- including the AR-15 used in last week's Parkland school shooting -- would do little to prevent a repeat. But, Negron told reporters Thursday afternoon, Democrats should be given an opportunity to offer amendments to the package that propose full or partial bans.

"The Senate is a place where there's open dialogue and where members have every right, in fact every responsibility, to file amendments in good faith that they believe will improve legislation," Negron said. "So, I think that every member of the Senate, every member of the House, should fight for the principles that they believe in. I'm willing to give consideration to every idea, including ideas that I may have a different perspective on."

It remains unlikely that an assault weapon ban would pass in a Capitol dominated by the heavy political influence of the gun lobby. Still, there are indications Republicans are reassessing their approach to demands for a ban.

On Tuesday, the Florida House voted to reject a Democratic motion to revive long-stalled legislation that would implement a ban on the sale and transfer of assault weapons. The move has been roundly criticized by gun control advocates and the survivors of last week's shooting, many of whom rallied at the Capitol on Wednesday, peppering Republicans with chants of "vote them out" and "serve your public, not your pockets!"

Members of the chamber's majority party are still defending the vote, with Rep. Gayle Harrell (R-Stuart) e-mailing her constituents Thursday to argue that a House rule requiring bills to work their way through the committee process "works and should not be bypassed," as Democrats had proposed doing.

But the email itself underscored the challenging environment many Republican legislators are facing as they field criticism for avoiding so much as a debate on banning assault weapons.

House and Senate Republicans do, however, appear broadly supportive of a set of "common sense" gun control measures expected to be part of the package: raising the state's minimum age to purchase an assault weapon from 18 to 21; requiring a waiting period for purchases of assault weapons; and implementing a so-called "gun violence restraining order" process.

The legislature's Democrats support those proposals as well, but have called them half-measures compared to an assault weapon ban. They were helped Thursday by Florida Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who visited the Capitol to meet with Negron and the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate.

"If we're going to do something about this, you've got to get at the root problem, and that is take the assault rifles off the streets," Nelson said. "Do criminal background checks on any transfer of the gun. It's common sense."