The Florida legislature's favorite topic of discussion, the degree to which civilians should be able to display and utilize firearms, is set for a showdown on the floor of the Florida House of Representatives, the more conservative wing of the state legislature.
Three bills are set for discussion before the full house: one on open carry, one on the controversial Stand Your Ground law and one limiting backyard gun ranges to areas where there perhaps aren't kids playing in a treehouse 30 feet away.
If members of the house had their druthers, concealed weapons permits holders would be able to openly display their weapons because that'll show 'em.
Earlier this week that bill, a version of which having been filed in both the House and Senate by father-son lawmaker duo Sen. Don and Rep. Matt Gaetz, respectively, cleared its final hurtle despite a range of concerns from Democrats and to the delight of gun nuts.
"To every extent that our citizens can take more responsibility for their own safety, we enhance the public safety of the collective society," the younger Gaetz told reporters after the meeting, according to the News Service of Florida. "Of course, there are circumstances where people use firearms in a bad way, just like there are circumstances where people use other weapons in a bad way. I don't think that's the function of the law. I think that's the function of the individual."
Democrats have been trying to appeal to the, er, economic sensibilities of the their GOP colleagues (i.e. who the hell wants to hang out on a beach where everyone's piece is openly on display?).
"Nobody wants this policy except a very small group of Floridians," Rep. Dave Kerner, D-Lake Worth, said, according to NSF. "I don't think we should jeopardize the image and safety of our state and law enforcement officers to appease a theory of constitutional law that is not accurate."
But it might not be totally smooth sailing for the guns everywhere crowd.
The bill's Senate version is having kind of a tough time. One lawmaker is threatening to block it after his amendment, which would simply make it illegal to prosecute someone whose concealed gun was accidentally exposed rather than allow everyone to expose their guns all the time, was itself blocked by the bill's sponsor.
That lawmaker, Miami Republican Miguel Diaz di Portilla, said he may block the Senate version if it doesn't include the amendment, and if it hits the Senate bill with the amendment intact, the entire effort fails.
That bill, as well as one that would allow concealed weapons on college campuses (a bill that Diaz di Portilla appears similarly likely to block in the Senate and thus might be similarly impotent), are both slated for the House agenda Tuesday.
Those same people (concealed weapons permit holders) would also not have a very hard time defending themselves if they killed anybody if another bill were to get get approved.
But don't cry into your tallboys/brandy snifters just yet, gun lovers; be heartened by the fact that an effort shifting the burden of proof in Stand Your Ground cases from the suspect's defense to the prosecution is also up for a full House vote after the Senate gave it a thumbs-up.
Supporters insisted that this would never result in a guilty person going free.
"I think it's simply incorrect to suggest that this bill will result in an otherwise guilty individual going free," Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said, according to NSF. "If the state has sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute a defendant in a jury trial, the state will prevail in the immunity hearing before a judge and the judge will permit the case to go to trial."
Democrats, meanwhile, are more concerned that people who blow other people away and say it was in self-defense will get away with doing so more easily regardless of why they actually pulled the trigger.
"It potentially stops an investigation cold after the last man standing tells his side of the story," said Senate Minority Leader Arthenia Joyner. "The dead do not have the opportunity to rebut the tale told by the survivor. In cases where there are no witnesses, this bill stacks the deck against the justice for the dead."
On the flip side, the Senate also passed a bill that would ban people in relatively densely populated areas (one residential housing unit per acre) from constructing and using backyard shooting ranges, because apparently there needs to be a law about this.
That chamber also sent that bill to the House floor.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2016.