Florida Shooters Network

With the pre-filing period for bills ahead of Florida's 2021 legislative session beginning this week, two controversial firearms-related bills already have been filed.

Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Howey-in-the-Hills, filed a “campus carry” bill that would allow gun owners with a concealed firearm license to carry a weapon onto Florida colleges and universities.

Sabatini’s House Bill 6001 is similar to campus carry bills he filed in 2019 and 2020 that did not receive committee hearings.

The bill would delete a provision in state law that restricts permit holders from carrying a firearm on university and college campuses. It would go into effect July 1, 2021.

With more than 2.19 million concealed weapons license holders, Florida is one of only four states with more than 1 million residents legally permitted to carry concealed weapons.

When he introduced the first iteration of the bill in 2019, Sabatini wrote on Facebook that legally licensed gun owners with conceal carry permits have a constitutional right to defend themselves, even on school campuses.

“How many mass shootings must we witness before we allow law-abiding citizens to defend themselves?” Sabatini wrote. “Why do we strip Florida citizens of their rights without a shred of evidence that doing so makes us safer?”

After filing his third version of the bill Monday, Sabatini tweeted, “The current prohibition of the concealed carry of a firearm makes campuses LESS safe and violates the spirit of the Second Amendment.”

Rep. Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs, also refiled a 2020 bill that would require the same background checks for firearms sales to be conducted for ammunition purchases.

The proposed measure, House Bill 25, is essentially Daley’s 2020 bill, which was named Jamie’s Law in memory of 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg, who was among the 17 people murdered in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, filed a Senate companion to Daley’s bill in the last session. Neither received a committee hearing. No 2021 Senate companion bill had been filed through noon Tuesday.

“As a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, nothing is more important to me than preventing another tragedy like what our community experienced from ever happening again,” Daley said Monday.

“Jaime’s Law is a huge step in the right direction towards ensuring that weapons and ammunition stay out of dangerous hands,” Daley said. “It’s also common sense and does not restrict the rights of legal gun owners. If someone walks into a bar and orders a beer, a bartender is required by law to ask for their ID. Why isn’t a vendor required by law to ensure someone seeking to purchase ammunition is legally allowed to do so?”

More than 100 gun control bills and dozens of gun rights bills were introduced by Florida lawmakers before the 2020 legislative session.

Senate Bill 7028, sponsored by former Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, proposed to create a record-keeping system for private gun sales and set aside $5 million to establish a “statewide strategy for violence prevention.” SB 7028 passed the Senate Infrastructure & Security Committee but died in the chamber’s Judiciary Committee.

House Bill 183, filed by former Rep. Mel Ponder, R-Destin, would have allowed elected members of governing bodies with concealed weapons permits to carry personal firearms at public meetings. HB 183 passed three committees before dying on second reading on the House floor.

A state lawmaker filed a bill on Monday that would require background checks for ammunition buyers, after the same bill failed in committee in the 2020 legislative session.

State Rep. Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs, and a Stoneman Douglas graduate, first filed the bill in the 2020 legislative session. It never made it to the House floor.

The proposal would apply to all sales of ammunition if it becomes law and would close what gun control advocates refer to as the ammunition loophole, Daley said.

Current law prohibits someone who can’t buy or possess a firearm from purchasing ammunition. But ammunition vendors aren’t required to run background checks on those buying bullets to make sure they’re allowed to do so.

In Florida, you can’t legally own or have a firearm if you’ve been convicted of a felony, if you’re under a domestic violence restraining order, or if you’re deemed a “violent career criminal.” You also can’t legally own or have a firearm if you’re the subject of an extreme risk protection order under the state’s red flag law, which a judge can issue for people deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

Jaime’s Law would not restrict the rights of legal gun owners, Daley said. And there are exemptions for people who buy ammunition at shooting ranges or hunting camps and intend to use it at those places.

People who pass the background check when they buy ammunition would be exempt from public records requirements, meaning information about who bought or transferred ammunition would not be available publicly.

“It’s not the ‘we’re coming to take your guns’ everyone seems to think it is,” he said. “We’re trying to be as reasonable as possible while getting to the root of the issue — a bad guy with a gun can walk into a store and buy as much ammunition as you like.”

Prospects aren’t great for passage of such a bill. The Florida Legislature has generally been friendly to gun owners and hostile to restrictions.

Daley and other advocates for gun control, including Jaime’s father Fred Guttenberg, said the legislation is a step in the right direction. Guttenberg has become a prominent advocate against gun violence since his daughter was killed.

“With approximately 400,000,000 weapons already on the streets, we must make it harder for those who intend to kill to do so,” Guttenberg said. “Jaime’s Law will help save lives immediately.”