Gun control groups claim win, for now

TALLAHASSEE — When lawmakers ended the legislative session this week without passing any major expansion of gun rights, gun control groups cheered the news. But nearly one year after the Pulse nightclub shooting that left 49 dead, the gun control debate in Tallahassee is anything but settled.

“What happened in Florida this legislative session is evidence that positive results can be achieved when concerned citizens come together and demand that their lawmakers take action to protect our communities,” said Peter Ambler, executive director of Americans for Responsible Solutions, a national group founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who was shot by a gunman in 2011.

But the National Rifle Association says the celebration is unwarranted. Marion Hammer, longtime Tallahassee lob-

byist for the NRA and the United Sportsmen of Florida, sent an email to supporters on Wednesday pointing out that gun control bills weren’t even heard in committee and vows to push for more legislation expanding gun rights.

“Regardless of who defeated what, we’d say it was a great session for protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” Hammer wrote. “And the ‘victories’ claimed by ... anti-gun groups will be short lived because bills to restore Second Amendment rights to law-abiding people will be back ... until they pass.”

Legislation backed by the NRA to allow guns in airports, on college campuses, in government meetings and allowing for the open carrying of guns for those with concealed carry weapons permits all died this year.

But thwarting bills expanding gun rights is one thing — passing gun control measures is another.

Gun control bills filed by Democrats that would have banned sales of assault weapons and expanded background checks to private sales also died. Unlike many of the gun rights bills, they failed to get a hearing in the GOPcontrolled Legislature.

Patti Brigham, co-chair of the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said that didn’t surprise her, but she’ll keep up the pressure for gun control measures.

“The coalition knew that those bills would probably not even be heard — which they weren’t — but we do plan to bring them back every year until they do pass,” Brigham said. “We’re very committed to that.”

After the Pulse nightclub shooting last June, left-leaning groups in Florida became re-energized over the issue of guns, and national gun control groups like Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety also took an interest in the Sunshine State.

Democrats took a renewed focus, too, calling for a special session to pass a law that would’ve banned gun sales to individuals on the FBI’s terror watch list and the federal no-fly list. Omar Mateen, the Pulse shooter, was previously questioned by the FBI and placed on their terror watch list. Only three Republicans joined Democrats in calling for the session, however, and the push for the law fizzled.

One of those Republicans was Sen. Anitere Flores of Miami, who singlehandedly halted many of the gun rights bills this year. Most bills were referenced first to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans held a 5-4 advantage over Democrats, and Flores was the key vote that prevented the bills from being heard because they would have failed.

But Sen. Greg Steube, RSarasota, who sponsored many of the bills, said it’s only a matter of time before some of those measures pass.

Republicans overwhelmingly control the House, outnumbering Democrats 79-41, and have a healthy 24-15 edge in the Senate. Bills allowing guns on college campuses and even open carry laws for those with concealed weapons permits would have passed the floor of the Senate, Steube said, if they had gained traction.

“Every couple of years there’s an opportunity depending on the makeup of the committees to get something to the floor,” Steube said. “That’s the real challenge. If you can get something to the floor I think you have the votes there.”

Though the tragedies of Pulse and the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting in January that left five dead may have shifted the debate over guns in Tallahassee somewhat, Brigham admitted she’ll have to get Republican support for proactive gun control bills to gain traction in the Legislature.

“We do hope eventually that our fight will become bipartisan, that we’ll have members of the Republican Party who will join us because we are non-partisan and we do want to work across the aisle,” Brigham said.

Yet Brigham stressed that her Coalition, which is made up of 120 groups around the state, is nonpartisan and their efforts are restricted to advocacy, not taking part in legislative races, where the fate of much legislation is won and lost.

“We believe that this is really not about the Second Amendment, it’s about public safety,” Brigham said. “It’s about what we saw at Pulse and what we saw at the Fort Lauderdale airport, I think that message is starting to resonate.”

Gun control bills filed by Democrats that would have banned sales of assault weapons and expanded background checks to private sales died.