About two dozen
gun-related bills have been filed by Republicans ahead of next month’s 60-day legislative session. All would allow more guns on the streets.
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republicans are more determined than ever to pass bills expanding gun rights in the wake of the deadly Pulse nightclub and Fort Lauderdale airport shootings.
They say law-abiding gun owners should be allowed to take weapons to airports, government meetings and state universities and would be in a better position to protect themselves and others if a mass shooting should erupt.
“Anytime you create a gunfree zone, you essentially are creating a safe haven for mass shooters and the criminal element and you put law-abiding people at a disadvantage,” said Marion Hammer, who has lobbied for the National Rifle Association for more than 42 years.
About two dozen gun-related bills have been filed ahead of next month’s 60-day legislative session. The vast majority would expand gun rights so they can be carried, as one opponent said, “pretty much everywhere.”
“If it’s a reaction to the Pulse shooting and Fort Lauderdale, it’s a very odd reaction,” said Patti Brigham, a vice president at the League of Women Voters of Florida and co-chairwoman of the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence. “It’s like bad gun bills on steroids.”
Although Democrats have responded to the mass shootings by proposing more restrictions, including a ban on assault-style rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines, they have virtually no chance of passing while Republicans dominate both legislative chambers.
Democratic Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando, whose bill would ban assault-like rifles, said expanding areas where guns can be carried isn’t the right approach. “Their solution is, ‘We want guns everywhere, all the time, by every person,’ which is not going to address these problems. It’s going to make them worse,” he said.
Republican Rep. Jake Raburn of Valrico said many of this year’s Republican proposals were easily approved in the House last year and will likely pass the chamber again this year. And he sees a better chance that the Senate will pass gun-rights expansions, especially since the chamber’s top advocate, Sen. Greg Steube, chairs the Judiciary Committee — the first stop for gun legislation.
Raburn is sponsoring the bill to allow guns at airports, an issue he proposed before the Fort Lauderdale shooting. He said hypothetical arguments against the idea don’t hold weight, such as police not knowing which person holding a gun means harm and which is a permit holder defending himself.
“Florida is one of only six states that doesn’t already allow that,” he said. “We haven’t seen any of these ‘what-if’ scenarios of law-abiding permit holders being a problem in airports.”
A bill filed by Republicans would hold business owners who ban guns from their property liable for injuries suffered by concealed-weapons permit holders who are attacked. One of the bills filed by Democrats would ban semi-automatic assault-type rifles such as AR-15s and AK-47s and detachable ammunition magazines that hold more than seven rounds.