GOP primary voters voting on August 14 (as well as currently through absentee ballots) are facing the choice of retaining incumbent Sheriff Bob Guiliteri, or bringing back former sheriff Everett Rice, who ran the department from 1988 to 2004.
In last week's copy of CL, we reported on this intense battle, but because of space constraints, couldn't report on the candidates thoughts about guns and gun violence.
We spoke with the candidates when the the horrific incident in Aurora, Colorado was fresh in the news. Since that time there has been another mass shooting, this time in suburban Milwaukee, where Wade Michael Page shot and killed six people inside a Sikh temple before killing himself.
CL asked both candidates their thoughts on whether guns should be regulated more than Florida law currently allows.
Of course, what the candidates think has no bearing on changing the law, since local governments in the Sunshine State are prohibited from changing such laws, an issue that surfaced when the city of Tampa realized they were impotent to regulate the carrying of guns inside the city's so called "Event Zone" during next month's Republican National Convention.
Not surprisingly as they contend for the Republican nomination, both candidates emphasize their strong support for the Second Amendment and the right to carry concealed firearms.
Gaulitieri opposes openly carrying handguns, which are one of the few gun bans still in place in the Sunshine State (Everett Rice does not).
But other than that, Gaulitieri is pretty pro guns.
This article appears in Aug 9-15, 2012.