FL's Gun Owners Deserve A Better Class of Lawmakers
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:52 am
Florida's Gun Owners Deserve A Better Class of Republican Lawmakers
The year is 2021; 18 states have passed Constitutional Carry laws and another 45 states have Open Carry. Right now, you have a number of states pushing solid pro-gun bills to expand their rights and freedoms.
Where is Florida in all of this?
As of the third week of the 2021 legislative session rolls on by. It is far behind the curve.
Currently, the Republican Party of Florida is cheering with the current progression of some bills.
They're all “Glitch Fix” bills. What am I talking about? The legislation that the Republican members of the House and Senate are pushing fix minor issues.
Let’s look at SB 1924 introduced by Senator Manny Diaz (R). It says the following:
“Notwithstanding any other law, any emergency order, decree, regulation, or other requirement issued by a political subdivision which curtails or infringes the rights of private individuals must be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling public health or safety purpose. Any such emergency measure must be limited in duration, applicability, and scope in order to reduce any infringement on individual liberty to the greatest extent possible.”
Sounds great right? Well, it isn’t. It still allows government to strip you of your rights, the bill just happens to slightly reduces the method of them doing it. There’s a better bill that is getting no traction whatsoever.
What’s that bill? It is HB 6005 and it says the following:
“Section 870.044, Florida Statutes, is repealed.”
Section 870.044 is the law that gives the government authority to ban the sale of firearms and ammunition during declared states of emergency. This bill outright repeals that authority. Instead of creating a complex series of ifs and whats. HB 6005 just removes the problem altogether.
Why isn’t a Republican Supermajority pushing this bill when they constantly campaign as being pro-liberty?
Okay, but that’s it right? There’s nothing else that’s happening like this right? Sorry, I wish this was it, but there’s more.
HB 259 and SB 498 are a companion set that strives to allow people to carry on any religious institution that has a school on its property or rents/leases property from a school.
I personally testified before the House and Senate committees in support of these two bills, but every time I did. I said there is a far easier solution. Simply repeal section 790.06(12) of the state criminal statute. That’s the section of the law that lists the gun free zones.
Why are Republicans spending political capital on such a bill that is so limited in its scale and scope when the far easier answer is to push a bill that would outright repeal gun free zones? Are they in favor of creating advertised areas that have unarmed law abiding Floridians? Haven’t the events of the past already proven to these lawmakers that criminals break the laws.
It doesn’t matter one bit if a school for example is listed as a gun free zone.
Because it doesn’t stop criminals from committing crimes. It sure didn’t stop Nikolas Cruz from murdering people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL back in 2018.
That school was a gun free zone and all it did was create an environment that allowed Nikolas Cruz to commit his vile acts in a place where he knew he would face no armed resistance from honest people because those people disarmed themselves to comply with the law.
Here’s another one for you my dear friend, HB 1343. It is a bill that would simply stop the FL. Dept, of Agriculture & Consumer Services from arbitrarily shutting down the Concealed Weapons & Firearms License website and suspending the online application process.
Yes, I spoke in support of this bill too. Why? Because sadly, HB 123 is dying on the vine and it is this or nothing at the moment.
What’s HB 123? It is Constitutional Carry. Yeah, last I checked, the best solution to resolve the issue of the Dept. Of Ag from closing down the Concealed Carry Permit website and refusing to process applications is to pass Constitutional Carry.
Floridians shouldn’t need a government permission slip to exercise their inalienable rights.
On March 17, I spoke with Rep. Cord Byrd (R) after speaking in support of one of his bills, HB 1409, which is honestly a good bill. Why Rep. Byrd? Because he’s the committee chair where Constitutional Carry is currently parked.
He said he will not have Constitutional Carry added to the committee's agenda since it does not have a Senate Companion Bill. That's the excuse he gave me. The real truth is that the House Speaker Chris Sprowls doesn't want it heard. Rep. Byrd taking his marching orders from House Speaker Sprowls. No one in the Senate submitted a companion bill because Senate President Wilton Simpson(R) threatened that if any Senator introduces Constitutional Carry, he’d kill their other bill.
Yes, you read that right, a Republican lead House and Senate, under Republican leadership is killing Constitutional Carry by intimidating Republican lawmakers.
This has been the same repeated pattern for over a decade now. Year after year, the Republican leadership strangles honestly good progressive pro-Second Amendment bills in the cradle and instead throw Florida’s gun owners table scraps.
That is the actions of a legislative dictatorship.
Rep. Bryd is a prime example of how lawmakers are targeted.
His bill HB 1409 would be killed if he openly supported Constitutional Carry. It is a good bill that fixes preemption and goes after local governments that try to weasel their way out of trouble by making a lawsuit moot by changing their rules after the suit is filed like what New York City did.
This is nothing more and nothing less than the actions of a rubber stamp, kangaroo parliament 90 miles off Florida’s shores in Communist Cuba
Worse though, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) hasn't spent a cent of political capital supporting any pro-gun legislation. Not a peep from him supporting Constitutional Carry.
If the good Governor wants to run for President in 2024. He’s going to need to really up his game because right now, he’s getting is clock cleaned out by other State Chief Executives like Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The man has openly declared that Texas will be a Second Amendment Sanctuary State and he’s also putting pressure on the Texas Legislature to pass Constitutional Carry.
I like Gov. DeSantis; he was a great guy in Congress and I think he’s much better of a Governor than Rick Scott ever was. But if he seriously wants to run for the White House in 2024 as the Republican candidate, he needs to do much better than what he has in regards to Floridians’s gun rights.
I urge Gov. DeSantis to start really pushing for Constitutional Carry and you should too! If he doesn’t, it will hurt him in the long run.
What is the solution to this problem? Simple, it starts with you.
Sen. Dennis Baxley said it best in 2019;
“Republican Lawmakers don’t support pro-gun legislation because they don’t hear any negative criticism from their constituency. They take the silence of gun owners as approval."
If you stay silent. They win. You need to raise cain with your lawmakers and governor.
Overload the legislators’ email inboxes, voice mail (the Senate is 850-487-5229, the House 850-717-5000, and the Governor's Office is 850-717-9337), and physical offices with letters.
Be loud, be proud, BE ACTIVE!
The year is 2021; 18 states have passed Constitutional Carry laws and another 45 states have Open Carry. Right now, you have a number of states pushing solid pro-gun bills to expand their rights and freedoms.
Where is Florida in all of this?
As of the third week of the 2021 legislative session rolls on by. It is far behind the curve.
Currently, the Republican Party of Florida is cheering with the current progression of some bills.
They're all “Glitch Fix” bills. What am I talking about? The legislation that the Republican members of the House and Senate are pushing fix minor issues.
Let’s look at SB 1924 introduced by Senator Manny Diaz (R). It says the following:
“Notwithstanding any other law, any emergency order, decree, regulation, or other requirement issued by a political subdivision which curtails or infringes the rights of private individuals must be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling public health or safety purpose. Any such emergency measure must be limited in duration, applicability, and scope in order to reduce any infringement on individual liberty to the greatest extent possible.”
Sounds great right? Well, it isn’t. It still allows government to strip you of your rights, the bill just happens to slightly reduces the method of them doing it. There’s a better bill that is getting no traction whatsoever.
What’s that bill? It is HB 6005 and it says the following:
“Section 870.044, Florida Statutes, is repealed.”
Section 870.044 is the law that gives the government authority to ban the sale of firearms and ammunition during declared states of emergency. This bill outright repeals that authority. Instead of creating a complex series of ifs and whats. HB 6005 just removes the problem altogether.
Why isn’t a Republican Supermajority pushing this bill when they constantly campaign as being pro-liberty?
Okay, but that’s it right? There’s nothing else that’s happening like this right? Sorry, I wish this was it, but there’s more.
HB 259 and SB 498 are a companion set that strives to allow people to carry on any religious institution that has a school on its property or rents/leases property from a school.
I personally testified before the House and Senate committees in support of these two bills, but every time I did. I said there is a far easier solution. Simply repeal section 790.06(12) of the state criminal statute. That’s the section of the law that lists the gun free zones.
Why are Republicans spending political capital on such a bill that is so limited in its scale and scope when the far easier answer is to push a bill that would outright repeal gun free zones? Are they in favor of creating advertised areas that have unarmed law abiding Floridians? Haven’t the events of the past already proven to these lawmakers that criminals break the laws.
It doesn’t matter one bit if a school for example is listed as a gun free zone.
Because it doesn’t stop criminals from committing crimes. It sure didn’t stop Nikolas Cruz from murdering people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL back in 2018.
That school was a gun free zone and all it did was create an environment that allowed Nikolas Cruz to commit his vile acts in a place where he knew he would face no armed resistance from honest people because those people disarmed themselves to comply with the law.
Here’s another one for you my dear friend, HB 1343. It is a bill that would simply stop the FL. Dept, of Agriculture & Consumer Services from arbitrarily shutting down the Concealed Weapons & Firearms License website and suspending the online application process.
Yes, I spoke in support of this bill too. Why? Because sadly, HB 123 is dying on the vine and it is this or nothing at the moment.
What’s HB 123? It is Constitutional Carry. Yeah, last I checked, the best solution to resolve the issue of the Dept. Of Ag from closing down the Concealed Carry Permit website and refusing to process applications is to pass Constitutional Carry.
Floridians shouldn’t need a government permission slip to exercise their inalienable rights.
On March 17, I spoke with Rep. Cord Byrd (R) after speaking in support of one of his bills, HB 1409, which is honestly a good bill. Why Rep. Byrd? Because he’s the committee chair where Constitutional Carry is currently parked.
He said he will not have Constitutional Carry added to the committee's agenda since it does not have a Senate Companion Bill. That's the excuse he gave me. The real truth is that the House Speaker Chris Sprowls doesn't want it heard. Rep. Byrd taking his marching orders from House Speaker Sprowls. No one in the Senate submitted a companion bill because Senate President Wilton Simpson(R) threatened that if any Senator introduces Constitutional Carry, he’d kill their other bill.
Yes, you read that right, a Republican lead House and Senate, under Republican leadership is killing Constitutional Carry by intimidating Republican lawmakers.
This has been the same repeated pattern for over a decade now. Year after year, the Republican leadership strangles honestly good progressive pro-Second Amendment bills in the cradle and instead throw Florida’s gun owners table scraps.
That is the actions of a legislative dictatorship.
Rep. Bryd is a prime example of how lawmakers are targeted.
His bill HB 1409 would be killed if he openly supported Constitutional Carry. It is a good bill that fixes preemption and goes after local governments that try to weasel their way out of trouble by making a lawsuit moot by changing their rules after the suit is filed like what New York City did.
This is nothing more and nothing less than the actions of a rubber stamp, kangaroo parliament 90 miles off Florida’s shores in Communist Cuba
Worse though, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) hasn't spent a cent of political capital supporting any pro-gun legislation. Not a peep from him supporting Constitutional Carry.
If the good Governor wants to run for President in 2024. He’s going to need to really up his game because right now, he’s getting is clock cleaned out by other State Chief Executives like Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The man has openly declared that Texas will be a Second Amendment Sanctuary State and he’s also putting pressure on the Texas Legislature to pass Constitutional Carry.
I like Gov. DeSantis; he was a great guy in Congress and I think he’s much better of a Governor than Rick Scott ever was. But if he seriously wants to run for the White House in 2024 as the Republican candidate, he needs to do much better than what he has in regards to Floridians’s gun rights.
I urge Gov. DeSantis to start really pushing for Constitutional Carry and you should too! If he doesn’t, it will hurt him in the long run.
What is the solution to this problem? Simple, it starts with you.
Sen. Dennis Baxley said it best in 2019;
“Republican Lawmakers don’t support pro-gun legislation because they don’t hear any negative criticism from their constituency. They take the silence of gun owners as approval."
If you stay silent. They win. You need to raise cain with your lawmakers and governor.
Overload the legislators’ email inboxes, voice mail (the Senate is 850-487-5229, the House 850-717-5000, and the Governor's Office is 850-717-9337), and physical offices with letters.
Be loud, be proud, BE ACTIVE!
