Emboldened by the Far Left’s success in Washington, D.C., Florida liberals are going all out for gun grabbing in the upcoming legislative session.
This mirrors what the Democrats have promised in Congress – the most serious attempt in years to nullify the Second Amendment rights of Americans.
To date, 16 bills addressing gun ownership have been filed, nine in the House and seven in the Senate.
Only a few are “friendly” to gun owners and would serve to counter liberal efforts.
One is HB 123 by Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Republican. It removes a requirement that license to carry concealed firearm is required in order to carry such firearm; limits areas in which concealed carrying of firearm is prohibited; revises criminal penalties; revises provisions relating to carrying of concealed weapons by nonresidents; provides for issuance of concealed carry licenses for reciprocity purposes; specifies that person not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing firearm may own, possess, & lawfully use firearms & other weapons, ammunition, & supplies for lawful purposes.
HB 6001 by Sabatini removes a provision prohibiting concealed carry licensees from openly carrying handgun or carrying concealed weapon or firearm into college or university facility.
Sabatini also filed HB 6005, which repeals provisions relating to specified automatic restrictions on firearms & ammunition during certain declared emergencies.
HB 259 by Jayer Williamson, Republican, authorizes concealed weapons or firearms license holders to carry a firearm on certain property of church, synagogue, or any other religious institution. It is identical to SB 498 by Joe Gruters.
But a bevy of bills from Democrats would curtail rights if enacted.
HB 25 by Democrat Rep. Dan Daley requires background checks for sale or transfer of ammunition.
HB by Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, Democrat, revises requirements for safe storage of firearms; provides criminal penalties if person fails to properly secure or store firearm & minor gains access to weapon as result; requires seller of firearm to provide each purchaser with specified information; revises standard for adults & minors to be criminally negligent in storage of firearm; revises exception to prohibition on storing loaded firearm within reach or easy access of minor who obtains it & commits certain violation. It is similar to SB 428.
Alex Andrade filed HB 213 which provides that certain actions creating restrictions or issuance of licenses are subject to penalties under specified provisions; provides that Cabinet member may not make any administrative regulations concerning regulation of firearms & ammunition except as expressly provided by the state Constitution or general law; requires DACS to enforce state firearms laws.
HB 251 by Kelly Skidmore, Democrat, would redefine the term “petitioner” to include individual who has biological or legal parent-child relationship with, who is legal guardian of, or who is spouse or sibling of respondent.
HB 6033 – Preemption of Firearms and Ammunition – 2021 by Dan Daley, Democrat,
repeals provisions pre-empting the field of regulation of firearms & ammunition to the legislature, to exclude local jurisdictions.
In the Senate, Democrats also are locked and loaded.
The leading gun grabber among Democrats is Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Broward, Senate minority leader and a lawyer with the uber-liberal law firm Morgan & Morgan.
SB 294 by Farmer dictates the locations and circumstances in which a loaded firearm is required to be kept and secured with a trigger lock or cable lock; deleting exceptions and criminalizing storage not meeting certain mandates.
SB 330 by Farmer would require all sales, leases, or other transfer of a firearm to be completed through a licensed dealer; authorizing a licensed dealer to charge a buyer or transferee specified fees.
SB 560 by Farmer repeals a law that prohibits the registration or recordkeeping of firearms and firearm owners and repeals a law that requires any such records to be destroyed. (This bill paves the way for gun registration and ultimately gun confiscation.)
SB 372 – by Democrat Linda Stewart would prohibit a person from printing, transferring, importing into this state, distributing, selling, possessing, or giving to another person certain 3D-printed firearms as of a specified date; providing criminal penalties; requiring persons in possession of such firearms to relinquish them to a law enforcement agency or to the Department of Law Enforcement or to destroy them before the prohibition takes effect, etc.
Sen. Tina Polsky, Democrat, is proposing SB 428, redefining the term “minor”; revising requirements for the safe storage of loaded firearms; providing criminal penalties if a person fails to properly secure or store a firearm and a minor gains access to the weapon as a result; requiring a seller or transferor of a firearm to provide each purchaser or transferee with specified information; revising the standard for adults and minors to be criminally negligent in the storage of a firearm under certain circumstances, etc. It is similar to HB-167.
SB 672 by Annette Taddeo, Democrat, would repeal a provision relating to the preemption of the field of regulation of firearms and ammunition to the Legislature, to the exclusion of local jurisdictions, etc.
Perhaps the most ominous threat is a bill that would make illegal virtually all rifles.
This draconian bill is SB 370 by – of course — Farmer.
It relates to so-called “assault weapons,” a term liberals never have been able to define.
Farmer, however, spells it out in detail, even listing model numbers and it appears to cover any semi-automatic rifle. He has been pushing similar legislation for years.
It prohibits their sale or transfer, and provides stiff criminal penalties.
This bill is the gun-grabbers’ dream. It would deny law-abiding Florida residents popular rifles used for hunting and defense and leave them at the mercy of criminals who, natural, would ignore the law and remain well-armed.
Those who already own such weapons would have to be registered, identified, fingerprinted etc. by the state, a huge power grab and infringement on the rights of Florida residents, and a dangerous expansion of the bureaucracy.
More than a million responsible Florida residents have concealed carry permits. Actions by legal gun owners save lives and protect property every day throughout the nation.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, crime in Florida is at an all-time low, and the murder rate attributable to guns has dropped substantially over the last 50 years – even as Floridians have bought millions more guns.
But liberals hope that they can use Joe Biden’s victory to push the nation even farther left, and diminish even more legal rights. Florida legislators will need to work hard to defeat them.
The filing deadline is March 2, so there is plenty of time for the gun-grabbers to offer more proposals that would protect criminals and endanger law abiding citizens.
