Gun Bills Could Again Struggle In Florida Senate

March 8, 2017

A proposal that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to store firearms with security officers at courthouses narrowly advanced Tuesday through the Senate Judiciary Committee — a panel where high-profile Second Amendment measures stalled last year.

The committee might be a stumbling block again for broader gun-related bills during the 2017 legislative session, including bills that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry on university and college campuses (SB 622) and in airport terminals (SB 618).

The Judiciary Committee voted 5-4 along party lines to back what is called “courthouse carry” (SB 616), sponsored by committee Chairman Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican who has filed 10 firearm-related bills.

However, Sen. Anitere Flores, a Miami Republican and top lieutenant to Senate President Joe Negron, said she was backing the courthouse bill Tuesday after getting Steube’s assurance that he would not expand the scope of the measure as it continues to move forward.

She also said she is not in favor of vastly expanding the state’s gun laws, which could impact the outcome of future firearm-related votes.

“He and I do not see eye to eye on probably any of the other gun bills,” Flores said. “I do not support having guns on campus. I do not support having guns in airports. I don’t support having guns in school zones. I don’t support those things.”

Steube, an attorney whose bills include the campus-carry proposal and a measure that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry handguns (SB 644), said he is working to move forward with his other proposals. But he acknowledged after the meeting that some of his other bills might have trouble advancing through his committee.

“All you have to do is count the votes on this committee and see where people are,” Steube said. “The only way that something can move, as it relates to firearms, would be coming through this committee.”

He maintained that Flores’ stance isn’t a setback for Second Amendment advocates, noting a measure (SB 128) from Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, to shift a burden of proof to prosecutors in “stand your ground” self-defense cases cleared the Judiciary Committee and will go before the entire Senate on Thursday.

“We’ve got a couple of other bills sent to Judiciary that relate to firearms and passed another bill today in a Senate committee that has refused to hear these bills the past two years,” Steube said. “I certainly think we’re moving in a direction that I would like to see us move.”

Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, gave her support to the courthouse proposal, saying, “I am one of those that believe it is a God-given right for us to protect ourselves and to carry a gun, but we have to be responsible.”

The measure would allow concealed-carry licensees to continue to carry up to the courthouse doors. The “dilemma,” according to the Second Amendment group Florida Carry, is gun owner to leave their firearms at home or store them in cars and be unarmed for a period outside the courthouses.

by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

Comments

6 Responses to “Gun Bills Could Again Struggle In Florida Senate”

  1. Shay on March 9th, 2017 9:52 am

    @kate

    You uneducated, delusional lady. I don’t carry a gun because I’m afraid to go outside w/o it. I carry a gun because I’m educated on the monsters that prey on defenseless people like you. If you watch the news and don’t know that these monsters exist then it is you who needs to seek help with your issues.

    @Rocky

    I installed a concealed gun safe in the floorboard of my truck so that when I have to leave my gun in my truck it is in a secured location. Sitting in my truck you never even know there is a safe there unless you lift the floor mat. I pay a lot of money on my guns, ammo, permit and range shooting to have some thug rob me of all my hard work. After all if you’re going to be a CCW holder shouldn’t you do all you can to keep that right?

  2. nod on March 9th, 2017 1:26 am

    I carry a gun because I am afraid and I keep food at my house because I am afraid of starving to death. (YEAH,RIGHT) Being prepared for an emergency is no being afraid.

  3. Rocky on March 8th, 2017 9:01 pm

    Actually I don’t see the dilemma as leaving your gun at home, or leaving it outside in your car, and going unarmed into the courthouse. I see it as an issue of leaving your gun unsecured in your vehicle while you’re in the courthouse.

    What are you supposed to do bolt a gun safe in the trunk of your car? Cars are broken into EVERY DAY all over this country, for no apparent reason. Trunks are popped; cars are stolen. If you leave your gun in the vehicle, it is essentially unsecured.

    This problem doesn’t just exist at the courthouse where you can carry up to the steps. It also exists at the airport, where you can carry up to the front door. It also exists at schools where you can legally carry up to the campus.

    The fact of the matter is those holding a Concealed Carry Permit are the most law abiding citizens in the country. It is a documented fact that Concealed Carry Permit holders are less likely to commit a crime than law enforcement officers. It is time that our politicians, and the no-minds behind the anti-gun organizations start looking at these realities, and stop propagating falsehoods. Concealed Carry Permit holders take the responsibility of carrying their gun very seriously.

    I have the utmost respect for our law enforcement officers, but seldom are they afforded the opportunity to stop a crime in progress, typically what they do is take reports from victims. If you want to be a victim, great… Go for it! But, don’t tell me that I have to be one, because you are afraid to defend yourself.

  4. No Excuses on March 8th, 2017 3:15 pm

    Kate, I bet you would be glad of those of us who have CC permits if you were ever in a situation where an active shooter was at work. No gun zones are an open invitation to these crazies and law abiding citizens with CC permits who are packing could, and often do, make a difference in the outcome.

  5. jp on March 8th, 2017 12:54 pm

    Let us look at this from another direction.
    Are law makers that oppose our Second Amendment rights ready to accept the financial responsibility when we are following their laws that prevent us from the means to protect ourselves?
    Why are some people so opposed to taking personal responsibility that they want to deneigh others from being responsible for themselves, family and loved ones?
    What kind of lunacy believes that people wanting to commit harm on others follow laws?

    Do these people opposed to carring guns really expect law officers to be everywhere in time to defend them from evil?
    If just laws keep people from comiting evil deeds then let’s get rid of the expense of having law officers.
    All drivers follow the laws of safe driving so we don’t need officers patrolling our roads, right?

    When I was in school we brought our guns to school to show and to be able to go out hunting or shooting right after school. The principal of our elementary school often would shoot pigeons off of the school with a 22 after school was out.
    Every boy and some of the girls had a pocket knife and we would carve at recess, and there was never a threat of someone cutting another person.

    You need to think about what has changed to make the world a more dangerous place and how you will protect yourself and people you care about.
    Maybe reject the position that it is someone else’s responsibility to ensure your safety.

  6. Kate on March 8th, 2017 8:24 am

    So you would be without your gun for a few minutes outside a courthouse, If your afraid to walk around like many of us with no weapons, perhaps you should seek some help for this lack of reality. Carrying a gun does not assure you will remain alive. It is all up to the good Lord anyways, HE is the one with your number. Besides that a gun is not going to stop a bomb.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News