DATE: October 19, 2015
TO: USF & NRA Members and Friends
FROM: Marion P. Hammer
 USF Executive Director
 NRA Past President

THE FIRST BILL: SB-344, Burden of Proof by Sen. Rob Bradley is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, at 9:00AM.

SB-344 Burden of Proof restores the Stand Your Ground law to the original intent of the Legislature by putting the burden of proof BACK ON THE STATE where it belongs.

Through court action, prosecutors and courts have reversed the self-defense law that gives immunity from arrest, detaining in custody, charging and prosecuting until and unless an investigation reveals there is probable cause to believe the act was not lawful self-defense.  They created a special "Stand Your Ground" that forces the victim to prove innocence rather than the state prove guilt.  This bill stops that.

THE SECOND BILL:  SB-300 Open Carry by Sen. Don Gaetz is also scheduled to be heard in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, at 9:00AM      

SB-300 Open Carry  is a bill to allow persons with a Concealed Weapons and Firearms License to also carry openly.  This will stop abuse of license holders and keep them from being charged with crime if  their firearm accidentally and unintentionally becomes exposed to the ordinary sight of another person.

Please EMAIL Committee members IMMEDIATELY and ask them to SUPPORT SB-344 & SB-300

IN THE SUBJECT LINE PUT:  SUPPORT SB-344 & SB-300 on the SCJ Agenda Tuesday

(To send your message to all just Block and Copy All email addresses into the "Send To" box)

[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],

Committee members need to hear from you.  Please email Committee Members IMMEDIATELY.

NRA-ILA: Institute for Legislative Action
FOLLOW NRA-ILA
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Sent. Maybe not too late in the day. Thanks OP for posting this.

Open Carry passes another hurdle; maybe this time.........

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/florida/2015/10/8580205/senate-committee-advances-open-carry-bill

I'm happy for Florida.

Woohoo

NICE!  

I'm getting really hopeful  that Marion Hammer will see it through this time and that we'll have our rights restored.

Naturally, as outlined in the article, we've got the usual adversaries; the retail association, the tourist industry, and the Democrats.

Hopefully our Republican supermajority in both houses of the legislature, and our Republican Governor,  will do the right thing.....which is clearly within their power.

Hopefully the RINO GOPe fucks don't ruin this like the last two times.

 

Like I said; with the Republican supermajority in both houses of the legislature, and the Republican governor ....it's totally within their power to do the right thing.

No excuses.

I'm waiting to see.... I have a feeling that at the last minute they'll stab us in the back again. They've done it before. The Florida GOP is on thin ice with me.

 

Glad to hear open carry cleared this hurdle. How did the SYG fix do?

Passed 4-1

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-stand-your-ground-gun-bills-move-in-senate-20151020-post.html



'TALLAHASSEE – Bills that expand gun rights and “stand your ground” protections won approval Tuesday in Senate committees, reigniting a heated debate over weapons and self-defense laws in Florida.

Lucy McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, a black teenager killed in Jacksonville in a 2012 dispute over loud music, urged the Senate Criminal Justice Committee to vote down SB 344.

The bill would reverse a Florida Supreme Court decision this summer declaring those claiming a “stand your ground” defense have the burden of proving they were in fear of their lives during a pre-trial hearing. It would instead put the onus on prosecutors to prove defendants weren't acting in self-defense.

“This adds an additional burden on the state to prove the innocence of the victims and the guilt of the shooters,” McBath said, noting that Michael Dunn had to be tried twice before he was convicted and sentenced to prison.

The bill passed the committee on a 4-1 vote, with Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, the dissenting vote.

With Republican support, Senate committees also approved two gun bills Tuesday. One would allow licensed gun owners to carry firearms openly in public places. The other would give concealed-weapons permit holders the right to carry guns on college campus."



"All of the bills are moving swiftly through the committee process ahead of the Legislature’s regular session, which begins in January."

Can this thread be tacked to track the progress of these bills through the legislature?

+1

This is important.

Super taggage!

Outstanding.  So how many more steps does this have to go before its on the desk to be signed???

Muchas grassy-ass

This!



 

Just enough for the Florida GOP to sell us out again


I encourage everyone to write there legislature as I do but don't get too excited... none of this is going to pass

Yeap what I think as well.  It will make it to the very end and then we will be blind sided again.

I am cautiously optimistic.

NRA-ILA: Institute for Legislative Action

Florida Alert! Pinellas Sheriff fights open-carry bill with bad info

DATE: October 22, 2015
TO: USF & NRA Members and Friends
FROM: Marion P. Hammer
 USF Executive Director
 NRA Past President



Yesterday, the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) came out against the open carry bill, SB-300 by Sen. Don Gaetz and HB-163 by Rep. Matt Gaetz.  It is a bill to stop concealed weapons and firearms license holders from being arrested for violating the open carry law if their firearms become accidentally and unintentionally exposed to the sight of another person.

Sheriff Bob Gaultieri, the Florida Sheriff Organization's Legislative Chairman, announced the organization's opposition to the bill in an inflammatory interview with the Palm Beach Post -- without having the courtesy of informing the bill sponsors of their opposition.  Sen. Gaetz told me he learned of their opposition when he read it in the newspaper.

It is important to remember that this is a reversal of their position from when we passed the Right to Carry law in 1987.  At the time they opposed the concealed weapons licensing law.  They claimed they didn't like "hidden guns."  They said if they had to allow citizens to carry guns, they wanted to be able see them so they would know who had guns.  Now, they say hidden guns are okay, but if they see a person openly carrying a gun they won't know if that person is a criminal.

Below is an article just posted on the Sarasota Herald-Tribune website that exposes the misinformation Sheriff Gaultieri gave in his Palm Beach Post interview (the article also contains a link to that interview).  You should read both.

http://thegunwriter.blogs.heraldtribune.com/19764/pinellas-sheriff-fights-open-carry-bill-with-bad-info/

Pinellas Sheriff fights open-carry bill with bad info

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Lee Williams

In a Q&A style interview published Wednesday on the Palm Beach Post’s opinion blog, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who chairs the Florida Sheriff’s Association’s legislative committee, spelled out his opposition to SB 300, the “Open Carry” bill, which is moving forward in the legislature.

I interviewed him for this story, and we spoke about his comments in the Post’s Q&A interview.

The sheriff  bristled somewhat when I asked if he was a Second Amendment supporter.

“I really don’t like that statement,” he said. “The Constitution is the Constitution, and I support every amendment, but every amendment is not without limit.”

You’ll remember Sheriff Gualtieri. He’s not known for his support of guns, gun owners or pro-gun legislation.

In May of 2013, he vowed to start enforcing a little-used county ordinance that requires background checks at local gun shows for all private sales. The county ordinance gathered dust since it was enacted in 1998. Violators faced misdemeanor charges. After garnering a few headlines, the plan fizzled. Gun shows were held without any problems. No arrests were ever made.


A year later he called the Firearms Mandatory Evacuation bill — which is now law — “crazy” and “absurd,” saying it would allow people to carry concealed firearms into a riot, rather than when they’re fleeing their homes.


In his interview with the Post, some of Sheriff Gualtieri’s responses are confusing. Others are downright wrong.
 
I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“I am saddened to see so much misunderstanding and erroneous information about a bill that simply protects the rights of law-abiding concealed weapons and firearms license holders,” said Marion Hammer. “The apparent distrust of law-abiding firearms owners by their sheriffs is indeed very sad and disappointing.”

Hammer is the executive director of the Unified Sportsmen of Florida, a past-president of the National Rifle Association and an NRA board member.

Math issues

Sheriff Gualtieri starts by claiming 82 percent of the sheriffs oppose open carry.  They took a secret vote, he said, during which 47 of the 67 sheriffs voted to oppose the bill. While my dad taught math for 33 years, I’m no mathematician, but that seemed more like 70 percent than 82 percent. It causes one to wonder why they have to skew the numbers.

The sheriff told me there were 5 sheriffs who abstained and 5 who could not be contacted, so 57 voted.

I’ll give him the 5 who didn’t answer their phones, but an abstention is still a vote.

This drops his 82 percent down to 75 percent. That much is clear.

Same restrictions as concealed carry

Sheriff Gualtieri told the Post that SB-300 it too broad and has no limits, but that’s not the case. The bill is not broad. It does have limits. It has the same limits that apply to concealed carry, and to clarify that those restriction apply, an amendment was added Tuesday to the bill in Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

The sheriff didn’t agree that the same restrictions would apply.

“That’s arguable,” he told me. “It also says the courts, in interpreting any statute not just this one, are to apply strict scrutiny. It calls into question whether any existing statute, under the strict scrutiny analysis, would survive. All have been analyzed under the intermediate scrutiny analysis. I don’t know if any (restrictions) would survive if the bill would become law.”

I’m no attorney, but this argument stinks, and it’s not Hoppes #9 I’m smelling.

No rifles

The Post story included  a picture of three men queued up in a fast-food restaurant. One had an M4 slung over his back. But SB-3oo only applies to handguns. It specifies that no long guns, rifles or shotguns, may be carried concealed or openly except as provided in 790.25 (hunting, fishing, camping, etc.)

“I didn’t choose the photos,” the sheriff said. “It (the bill) is purely about handguns. I never mentioned rifles.”

Good point, sheriff.

Produce license upon request

The sheriff said the bill “raises questions” about a police officer’s ability to ask an open-carrier to produce their concealed-carry license.

But under existing law, 790.06(1), license holders are required to have the license with them “at all times in which the licensee is in actual possession of a concealed weapon or firearm and must display both the license and proper identification upon demand by a law enforcement officer.”

That same restriction apply to open carry. It’s in the bill.

Gualtieri admitted same.

“That’s true, assuming that all that survives,” he acknowledged.

Private property rights

In the Post story, Gualtieri claimed that a Day Care or a McDonald’s won’t be able to bar people from open carry or “having their guns on tables” while eating.

This too is false.

There is nothing in the bill that in any way impacts the private property rights of others. Any businesses or person may prohibit the open carry of firearms on their private property.

The sheriff does not see it this way.

“No. It says right now they can carry a firearm openly anywhere they’re lawfully allowed to be,” he told me. “Certainly, the best way to protect private property rights is to remove any ambiguous language, soit clearly says private property owners can do that.”

Stop prosecutions

One of the main reasons the bill has garnered so much support is that it will stop the overzealous arrests and prosecutions of concealed carriers whose clothing rides up and they unintentionally display a handgun.

The sheriff said these law-abiding citizens shouldn’t be “dinged” for a simple mistake, but that certainly has happened. Arrests have been made. We tried it the Sheriffs’ way in 2011 — in good faith. Instead of going to simple open carry, we agreed to an amendment by the sheriffs that was supposed to stop abuse of people who were carrying concealed.

It didn’t work.

Licensed concealed carriers were still arrested for violation of the open carry law if their firearm accidentally and unintentionally became exposed to the sight of another person. Their amendment said it was not a violation of the open carry law for a gun being carried concealed to be briefly exposed to the sight of another person. That amendment didn’t work, and the abuse only got worse.

The sheriff told me that no “good people” should be prosecuted for a mistake. Unfortunately, they still are.

The law in 45 states

The Post asked Gaultieri why 45 states allow open carry.

In his response, he said it’s not an “apples to apples” or an “accurate” comparison, because Florida has a strong preemption law.

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what he meant by that, so I asked.

“The proponents and sponsors are trying to use the statement persuasively that Florida is the only one of five states that don’t have open carry — trying to say that 45 have laws similar to Florida that would allow straight open carry — that there are no issues in other places, so there will be no issues here — that if it’s good in 45 states, is should be good here,” he said. “Take Pennsylvania — their statute is very, very narrow. Oklahoma requires a holster. You can’t stick a .45 in your pocket. Texas (open carry) law doesn’t take effect until 2016. To sit there and say this has worked out in other places so it would work here is wrong. There’s a whole myriad of laws in other states. They’re not examples. There’s a big difference between the Poconos and downtown Miami.”

I told the sheriff that of course different states had different provisions and that the 45-state analogy should be taken on the whole, but he didn’t agree.

“Show me a major metro area where you don’t have to have a handgun in a holster, or where there’s no (mandatory) weapons retention training,” he said.

Bearing arms

Sheriff Gaultieri told me he “absolutely” supports the right to carry a concealed firearm, but he refuses to support open carry.

“What I am against is the unnecessary and unreasonable display of firearms,” he said. “There’s no right here being infringed on. Everyone has a right to carry a firearm concealed.”

I told him most folks view open carry as the “bearing arms” part of the Second Amendment, but the sheriff doesn’t agree.

“No. the Florida Constitution states that we can have reasonable gun restrictions, and the Federal Constitution — people read too much into it,” he said. “The Fourth Amendment says people should be free of unreasonable search and seizure. It doesn’t say all search and seizure. I don’t think it’s good to be sitting in the public cereal aisle, and to see some guy with two .45s stuck in his bathing suit. If they want to carry concealed, they need to be discreet about it.”

I want to thank the sheriff for taking the time to talk to me, even though I’m one of those who, in his view, is certainly guilty of reading too much into the Second Amendment.

NRA-ILA: Institute for Legislative Action
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I hate the Florida Sheriff's Association.

Fucking cock suckers.

I never even seen a Sheriff in Florida

they are in the car behind the bushes that says sheriff

After what they did last time around, I think this covers it quite nicely.


ETA I have an account set up here to watch the progress of these bills.

https://www.flsenate.gov/Login?referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flsenate.gov%2FLogin%2FIndex%2F2016



HB 0163
Weapons and Firearms Gaetz  Last Action: 10/19/2015 H Now in Justice Appropriations Subcommittee
Location: In committee/council (JUAS)  Tracking this Bill  

SB 0300
Weapons and Firearms Gaetz  Last Action: 10/23/2015 S Now in Judiciary
Location: In committee/council (JU)  Tracking this Bill  

HB 4001
Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms Steube, Rehwinkel Vasilinda  Last Action: 9/16/2015 H Now in Higher Education and Workforce Subcommittee
Location: In committee/council (HEWS)  Tracking this Bill  

They don't speak for our Sheriff here in Brevard County.

His view is right here.

Yup I am in Miami-Dade but I sent your Sheriff an email thanking him

Nice guy, he sent an email thanking me back

Miami-Dade doesn't have an elected Sheriff. Down south it is the Miami-Dade County Police Department. They got rid of the Sheriff in 1952.

 

The MDPD badge has the old County Sheriff badge in the design.

Surprise, surprise...secret ballot vote by the FSA opposes open carry.

Sheriff McKeithen speaks out.
http://www.newsherald.com/article/20151027/NEWS/151029272/?Start=1

Some of these comments are...  

Almost the entire country has open carry. Why in the blue fuck does Florida not have it?  Fucking pisses me off.

That's your fellow Floridians for you.

I think we'll get there...eventually...

There is no excuse for them failing to to pass it right now; all the stars are aligned in favor of passage; a Republican  supermajority in both houses of the legislature and a Republican Governor as well.

If she really wants to, Marion Hammer and the NRA can see it through this time; shes an incredibly adept lobbyist.

And Texas recently achieving open carry too.

No excuses.

No wiggle room.

No B.S. this time.

You're ignoring the significant lobbying power of the FSA/FOP and the FRF.

Far from it; they represent the opposition to the people's rights and I don't underestimate them at all.

We're going to see who our elected officials represent when the rubber hits the road.

No excuses.

NRA-ILA: Institute for Legislative Action

Florida Alert: The Truth about Open Carry -- Erroneous Claims Exposed

DATE: November 1, 2015
TO: USF & NRA Members and Friends
FROM: Marion P. Hammer
 USF Executive Director
 NRA Past President



Many folks remember that during the fight to pass Florida's Concealed Carry law, the Florida Sheriffs Association opposed concealed carry.  They literally said they didn't like "hidden guns."

At the time, open carry was legal in Florida and had been for decades.  They said if people were going to be allowed to carry guns, they needed to carry them openly so law enforcement officers could see them and know who had guns -- they claimed it was a matter of officer safety.

Now, they have reversed positions.  They claim concealed carry is fine and they don't mind concealed guns.  BUT, open carry is dangerous. They claim they won't know the good guys from the bad guys, and one sheriff (now retired) said law enforcement would have to "draw down" and anybody carrying openly.  You've probably heard or read most of the rhetoric.

They always lead off saying they are strong Second Amendment supporters then proceed to explain why they OPPOSE Second Amendment rights.

The Constitution guarantees your right to keep and bear arms and it certainly doesn't say you can only exercise your rights if your sheriff agrees with it.

Below are the facts about open carry -- it is a rebuttal of some the latest claims.  You may also click here The Truth About Open Carry to download a copy for the fact sheet to share with others.

The Truth About

The Open Carry Bill & the 45 States that Allow Open Carry

In recent Palm Beach Post Blog articles and a Tampa Bay Times Blog article, the Chairman of the Florida Sheriffs Association's Legislative Committee (FSA) is quoted with some erroneous claims regarding the proposed open carry bill in Florida (SB-300 by Sen. Don Gaetz and HB-163 by Rep. Matt Gaetz).

In recent Palm Beach Post Blog articles and a Tampa Bay Times Blog article, the Chairman of the Florida Sheriffs Association's Legislative Committee (FSA) is quoted with some erroneous claims regarding the proposed open carry bill in Florida (SB-300 by Sen. Don Gaetz and HB-163 by Rep. Matt Gaetz).

Below are some of those claims and our responses.

FSA CLAIM: "The bill as currently drafted is extremely broad, lacking limits on when, how or where firearms could be carried."

FACT: The same provisions and restrictions that apply to concealed carry also apply to open carry (s.790.06).  Only a person with a license to carry concealed will be able to carry openly. Additionally, the improper exhibition of firearms law (s.790.10) applies whether carrying concealed or openly.

Further, because of these and other erroneous claims, a clarification amendment, to stop open carry opponents from continuing to make such false claims, was added to the bill in Senate Criminal Justice Committee the morning of 10/20/15 – We know the spokesman made that claim even AFTER the clarification amendment was added because the spokesman made reference to an amendment "that didn't pass" in the same committee meeting.

Since the FSA spokesman obviously doesn't want to believe the NRA's data, the following data was provided by Florida Carry, Inc. – and their data confirms ours.

FSA CLAIM: "The bill's proponents claim that 45 other states already allow open-carry. But that's not really accurate."

FACT:  To the contrary, it is accurate.   Forty-five (45) states allow open carry of firearms.  Varying restrictions on open carry in some states does not alter the fact that 45 states allow open carry.


15 of 45 open carry states require a license to carry concealed or openly.
30 of 45 open carry states do not require any license to carry openly.
0 of 15 of the concealed carry license states require additional training to carry openly.
0 of 45 states offer a separate "open carry" license.
2 of 45 states require an open carry holster.  On 1/1/16 Texas will require a holster.
0 of 45 states require a retention holster.
5 of 15 are "may-issue" states where law enforcement issues licenses.
15 of 15 states require the license holder to produce the license on lawful demand by a law enforcement officer.


FSA CLAIM: "... most open-carry states have strict rules about ... producing the permit on demand."



FACT: This is a red herring.  FLORIDA law already requires license holders to produce a license on demand by a law enforcement officer.  And for the record, all 15 states that require a license, require producing the license on lawful demand by a law enforcement officer.

   
FSA CLAIM:  "...[I]t's ‘intellectually dishonest' to say open carry laws are working in the 45 other states because there are so many variations in the laws and the demographics.

FACT: The open carry laws are working in 45 states. Opponents have presented no evidence to the contrary – no evidence that it isn't working in any state and no evidence of problems in any state. These are just baseless allegations.  Simply because different states have variations in their laws does not in any way alter the fact that open carry is allowed and that it’s working.

FSA CLAIM:  "In Pennsylvania, for example, cities can opt out of its open carry law and some, including Philadelphia, do just that, Gualtieri said. Florida cities don't have the option to opt out of a state law."

FACT:  Pennsylvania DOES NOT allow cities to opt out of its open carry law. Pennsylvania does not require a license for a person to carry openly.  Philadelphia cannot "opt out" of the state open carry law.  Pennsylvania state law allows the city of Philadelphia (and only Philadelphia) to require a license to carry openly in Philadelphia.

FSA CLAIM:  As for demographics, "You can't compare Sioux Falls, S.D. to downtown Miami or downtown Tampa or downtown Orlando," Gualtieri said.

FACT: This argument is illogical and perhaps intentionally misleading. Seventy percent (70%) of the American public live in open carry states from all regions of the country.  Many of the 45 open carry states have large and diverse cities just like Florida and where you live geographically, whether it's Trilby, FL or Fanning Springs, FL, you have the same constitutional rights as citizens who live in Miami, Tampa, or Orlando.



FSA CLAIM: "...the state's trespass law gives businesses the right to ask anyone openly carrying a weapon to leave their property," but they ... "will be reluctant to tell a person wearing a .45 to leave."



FACT: Posting signs prohibiting open carry inside a business establishment is a simple solution.  Proper notification will stop citizens from even entering the establishment.  Property owners already must post trespass signs to notify the public to stay off private property.  

Businesses have the right to refuse service and evict anyone they wish unless it's done on the basis of race, gender, or religion.  Further, it is common to see signs that say, "No shirt, no shoes - no service."  Why are they reluctant to post signs saying, "No open carrying of firearms?"

FSA CLAIM: "..if you are McDonald's you won't be able to exclude somebody from putting their gun on the table and sitting there and eating."

FACT: Again, any business may evict a customer for behavior they deem to be offensive, dangerous or inappropriate.   Further it is a criminal offense under s.790.10 to exhibit a firearm in a rude or careless manner.  



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Florida Alert: Campus Carry in Committee Wednesday Nov. 4
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NRA-ILA: Institute for Legislative Action
Florida Alert: Campus Carry in Committee Wednesday Nov. 4

DATE:November 3, 2015
TO:USF & NRA Members and Friends
FROM:Marion P. Hammer
USF Executive Director
NRA Past President

URGENT ALERT:  CAMPUS CARRY BILL IN COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY!

HB-4001, Campus Carry by CW License Holders by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Sarasota) is scheduled to be heard in the House Higher Education Committee on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, at 8:00am.

Under this bill, adults 21 years of age or older who have a valid Florida Concealed Weapons or Firearm License will have their rights restored and will be able to carry their concealed firearms on college or university campuses for protection.

YOUR ACTION ON THIS BILL IS CRITICAL


PLEASE IMMEDIATELY EMAIL Members of the House Higher Education Committee URGE THEM TO SUPPORT HB-4001

In the subject line put:  SUPPORT HB-4001 -- Protect Self-defense Rights

(Block and Copy All email addresses into the "Send To" box)

[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]

It is imperative that you email these Committee members right away.


State university and college administrators, professors and faculty members are mounting a heavy lobbying effort against the bill.  Some of these "educators,"  who get paid with our tax dollars to teach or young men and women, are actively engaged in politics and lobbying against the constitutional right to carry firearms for protection.

Further, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg's "Everytown" anti-gun group and the very anti-gun Florida League of Women Voters are flooding committees with their anti-gun message.

BACKGROUND:

The  primary message of opponents of campus carry has been that Florida’s college and university administrators and their faculty union are all against campus carry.  

Collective opposition from state universities administrators doesn’t make them right, it merely reveals their willingness to march in collective unison, while denying reality.

Earlier this year we received an email from EMILY'S LIST (an organization that promotes the election of very liberal women -- usually antigun -- to public office) concerning "shocking numbers" their research had found.  

They reported that "one in five female college students is sexually assaulted."  They called it an epidemic of sexual assault on our nation's college campuses.

They further reported that 95% of sexual assaults go unreported and that only 10-25% of students found RESPONSIBLE for sexual assault are expelled.  And that attackers are more likely to graduate while survivors – victims – drop out.

It was certainly a timely message from an unlikely group and it is yet another reason  to pass this bill.

The plain truth is campuses are not safe.  They are "Gun-Free-Zones" where murderers, rapists, terrorists, and robbers may commit crimes without fear of being harmed by their victims.

It is a fact that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement supplies data showing that hundreds of sexual offenders live in very close proximity to Florida’s college and university campuses.  Maps showing where they live are designed to alert students and parents to the danger of sexual assault from these predators.

Studies by nationally recognized experts, including Dr. Gary Kleck  -- a criminologist and researcher from FSU -- show that crime among people who carry guns for self-defense is almost nonexistent.

States that allow firearms to be carried on campus have not seen a rise in crimes committed with firearms.

Those who say police have done an adequate job of responding to campus shootings and controlling the situation must also acknowledge that police do the best job they can, but they are not there when the attack occurs.  They only arrive after the rape, robbery or other attack has happened.  Police can't stop the crime -- only the victim has a chance to actually stop it. Denying the tools of self-defense creates more victims.

Further, claiming that police won't be able to tell a good guy with a gun from a bad guy with a gun is just nonsense.  They do that every day, in every jurisdiction and state in our nation. The fact is there is no legitimate reason to deny adults, 21 years of age or older, who are licensed by the state to carry firearms for protection, to continue to carry when they step on a college campus.

These license holders have no criminal record, no record of mental illness, no record of alcohol or drug abuse and have had training in the safe use of a firearm.  

Simply not liking guns, not trusting students, and not respecting the constitutional rights of others is not a legitimate reason to prohibit fundamental freedoms.

 It is critical that you take action right away.

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Just emailed.

Sent

Thanks guys

I have a  question in regards to SB-300. I thought I read on the concealed carry pamphlet that it's not illegal for a concealed weapon to be exposed if it was done in a non threatening manner. Aka, accidentally.

Is this not true?

Eta: I understand this bill is for full open carry. I'm all for it! I just don't want to get accidentally arrested either.
http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2012/790.053

The accidental ex-poser is determined by the responding officer. Which could go either way depending on the officer.  With open carry it null and voids this.  Of course unless if you do it in a threatening manner.

Did not know that.

That's some bs right there man.

As I understand it the law about accidental exposure did not change a thing, which brings us to where we are now.  It's at least a factor for a few I know who are supporting open carry now who didn't before.

 
The accidental exposure law was actually was original our open carry bill that the Republican RINOs killed and gutted.

More good news on both campus and open carry today.









DATE:November 4, 2015

TO:USF & NRA Members and Friends

FROM:Marion P. Hammer USF Executive Director NRA Past President

 

ISSUE ONE - CAMPUS CARRY:   HB-4001, Campus Carry by CW License Holdersby Rep. Greg Steube (R-Sarasota) was heard in the House Higher Education Committee on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, at 8:00am and PASSED BY A VOTE OF 10-3.

 

Under this bill, adults 21 years of age or older who have a valid Florida Concealed Weapons or Firearm License will be able to carry their concealed firearms on college or university campuses for protection.

VOTING FOR THE BILL WERE:

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected]


VOTING AGAINST THE BILL WERE:

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected],

 

ISSUE TWO - The Florida Sheriff Association's Real position on Open Carry

     

An email response from the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) today said they are NEUTRAL on HB-163 (which is the Open Carry bill by Rep. Matt Gaetz) and SB-68 (which is the Campus Carry bill by Senator Greg Evers)

While the Legislative Committee Chairman of the Florida Sheriffs Association is telling the media that the FSA opposes Open Carry, the Association's official written response is that they are Neutral Below is the official response they sent to an individual who emailed them asking for their official position on Open Carry and Campus Carry.  The email was forwarded to us.

Begin forwarded message:

From: info <[email protected]>

Date: November 4, 2015 at 9:24:49 AM EST

To: John XXXXX @gmail.com>

Subject: RE: Associations Official Recommendations for SB 300, HB 163

Mr. XXXXXXX,

Thank you for writing the Florida Sheriffs Association.

We have been receiving a lot of emails like yours. The FSA is neutral on HB 163 and SB 68.
     

Please let us know if we can be of any other assistance.

Take care,

Florida Sheriffs Association

This is indeed a puzzler....Clearly somebody has it wrong.

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