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Paskalos

Open Carry Bill Filed in Florida for Coming Session

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A Republican lawmaker has filed a bill that would make Florida the 46th state to adopt lawful open carry of handguns while dropping a number of mandated gun free zones.

The measure, filed late Friday by the new head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, would modify state law to allow for open carry as long as one had a valid concealed carry permit.

Steube, a former state representative who sponsored pro-gun legislation in his stint in the Florida House, was tapped to replace outgoing Senate Judiciary Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, who repeatedly blocked gun reforms.

Steube’s measure, SB 140, is sweeping in the respect that it not only authorizes Florida’s 1.6 million concealed carry permit holders to carry openly, but also trims away a number of long standing gun free zones. Among the areas affected would be secondary schools, career centers, and local government meetings.

Despite some of the most pro-gun laws in the country, Florida is just one of five states in the country that ban open carry and are in the same club that includes California, New York, South Carolina and Illinois. Florida allowed open carry until 1977.

The Florida Supreme Court is currently reviewing the 2012 case of a Floridian who was found guilty by a lower court for the open carry of a weapon outside of his home after his handgun, which he had a concealed carry permit for, became visible. With a ruling in that litigation likely before the start of the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers may be forced to codify a change should the high court strike the ban.

Legislation to pass open carry in the last session became a litmus test for law enforcement, with the Florida Police Chiefs Association supporting the move in a 15-7 vote while the Florida Sheriffs Association had 47 of 67 member sheriffs opposing the measure. Each side had very vocal champions with Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri contending open carry is fundamentally dangerous and Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey arguing openly armed citizens represent a direct deterrent effect on crime.

Paskalos

Donald Trump say’s he’s ‘Second Amendment 100%’

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According to CNN while in Sarasota, Florida Donald Trump on Saturday touted his opposition to gun control, the day after a shooting rampage outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado killed three people.

At a Sarasota, Florida rally, Trump didn’t mention the episode, in which one officer and two civilians were killed. But the mogul did cite the recent Paris attacks, in which more than 130 people died.

“If they would have had the guns, they wouldn’t have had the carnage they had,” Trump told an often-raucous crowd. “I just want to say upfront, right now, Second Amendment 100%.”

The billionaire businessman’s Thanksgiving weekend event came amid mounting criticism over his apparent taunting of a New York Times reporter’s physical appearance. Trump has denied mocking the scribe’s physical disability. The New York Times earlier in the week issued a statement condemning Trump, while the mogul maintains it’s the news outlet that should be saying sorry.

It’s only the latest brouhaha in a campaign filled with taunts and insults of political opponents, media critics and others. Though before the Sarasota rally Trump showed a softer side, at least briefly. After his helicopter landed, Trump called for some children to go up in it, a stunt he pulled in Iowa this summer as well.

“I can call her girl right?” Trump said speaking to the parents of a young child at the rally. “Today we have to be so politically correct.”

Trump’s campaign on Saturday also announced the endorsement of Kathryn “Kat” Gates-Skipper, the first female Marine in combat operations.

CNN’s full story »

 

Paskalos

Push For Open Carry Comes Up Again In Florida

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State Rep. Matt Gaetz is leading the latest attempt to pass an “open carry” gun law in Florida to repeal the state’s outdated laws on open carry.

In a Facebook post in July, Gaetz – who is seeking the Senate seat held by his father, former Senate President Don Gaetz – called Florida “an outlier” in prohibiting the open carry of firearms.

The Shalimar Republican filed HB 163 on Monday; in part, the bill would allow a person licensed to carry a concealed firearm or weapon to “also openly carry such firearm or weapon.”

“Texas recently made the change and it’s time we change too,” he wrote. “Share if you believe in protecting our 2nd Amendment freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.”

HB 163 (PDF) would allow a concealed carrier to also open carry a firearm, chemical spray, or stun gun.

Furthermore, the bill affirms:

The right to bear arms and defend one’s self is a fundamental and individual right that exists in any place that a person has the right to be, subject only to exceptionally and narrowly tailored restrictions that employ the least possible restriction on the right in order to achieve a compelling government interest.