There’s something to be said about going through the motions when that’s all you have available to you. That’s especially true for elected officials who need to at least look like they’re doing what their constituents want, even if the bills they introduce are never going to pass. At least then you can go home and tell your constituents that you did your best come the next election.
In Florida, which isn’t nearly as pro-gun as it should be, but is clearly anti-gun control, there are a slew of anti-Second Amendment bills being introduced for the next legislative session, and it seems all but the most delusional recognize this.
Unfortunately, Florida has no shortage of delusional anti-gunners.
Democrats file doomed gun control bills as Republicans expand rights.Democrats in Florida’s Legislature have filed more than a dozen gun control bills – which even the party’s lawmakers acknowledge are likely to go nowhere – less than two months after the “Gunshine State” legalized open carry.
The routine submission of gun control legislation with nothing to show for it prompted a leading gun violence prevention advocate to reprimand Democrats in Tallahassee. A number of the bills are introduced year after year and quietly meet the same fate.
“Unfortunately, in the state of Florida, the majority of those on the Democratic side have just become weak,” said Fred Guttenberg, whose teen daughter was killed in a South Florida school shooting. “They’ve forgotten how to fight; they’ve accepted the idea that they can’t accomplish much, and I think they’re mistaken.”
None of the Democratic-sponsored bills to restrict gun rights introduced in recent weeks has been scheduled for a Committee hearing by the GOP leadership, while a Republican-backed measure that would broaden gun rights is already on the agenda for next week.
That bill, a renewed Republican effort by Rep. Tyler Sirois of Merritt Island, would lower the age to buy any firearm from 21 to 18. It’s expected to face its first vote on Tuesday in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. Republicans outnumber Democrats on that panel 12-5.
I think Guttenberg is mistaken.
He’s become so outspoken and, frankly, a little nuts about his anti-gun crusade that I don’t think he’s got many people around him who will tell him the truth anymore, who will help him see the reality in Florida.
While it’s been difficult for Florida gun rights advocates to get pro-gun measures passed anywhere near as easily as they should in a state with a GOP supermajority, they haven’t shown any stomach for more gun control since their initial burst of stupidity right after Parkland.
It’s possible that efforts to repeal those laws will still fail as they have in recent years, but that doesn’t mean there’s any appetite for more gun control. Especially an assault weapon ban, which one of the bills filed would create.
The least egregious of the measures would declare June as “Responsible Firearm Safety Awareness Month.” Depending on how that’s defined, it’s far from a terrible thing. I just don’t trust anti-gun lawmakers to define it in any reasonable way.
The rest are what they are, but I’m not convinced there’s a chance for most of them. The only one that I do think might happen is one that creates a few gun-free zones, which were apparently overturned in the open carry decision, simply because of how the laws were linked. That might happen, but little else will.
Even the thing with June.
Most of these are doomed to fail, and even if Fred Guttenberg thinks there’s political will for all of these, that doesn’t change the reality that he’s wrong.
Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, a few Dems have finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle—just inflicting pain for political points.
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