Activist organization shifts focus to changing Legislature
Having failed to get an assault weapons ban on the ballot for Florida voters, the group Ban Assault Weapons Now is changing tactics and transitioning into a political group aimed at altering the makeup of the state Legislature.
The goal is still the same: prohibiting the sale or transfer of assault-style weapons in Florida.
The organization was created with great fanfare in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. The organization’s chairwoman is Gail Schwartz, whose nephew Alex Schachter was one of 17 people killed by a gunman with an AR-15 rifle.
Early on, the organization attracted generous financial support from prominent Democrats and Republicans. From its inception in late March 2018 through early July 2020, the organization raised more than $2.4 million. It’s spent slightly more than $2 million, largely on the expensive process of gathering signatures, legal bills, fundraising expenses and consultants.
It needed 766,200 signatures needed to get it on the November election ballot, but by the Feb. 1 deadline had collected just 145,000 verified signatures. The deadline to meet the signature requirement for this year’s election was Feb. 1.
BAWN said it would instead focus its efforts on getting the proposal on the 2022 ballot.
In early June, the Florida Supreme Court ruled the proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution — prohibiting the sale of semiautomatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition either in a fixed or detachable magazine — didn’t meet the requirements to go before voters.
In an announcement Wednesday, BAWN said that prompted the refocusing.
“We are excited about the next steps in our effort to save lives by banning assault weapons in Florida,” Schwartz said in a statement. “As before, we’ll work to ensure the voices of those demanding change across our state are heard at the ballot box in order to deliver what the majority of people want: ending mass murder and getting these weapons of war off our streets once and for all.”
It’s unclear how big a role the organization will play. Ban Assault Weapons Now took in 20 contributions of five figures, ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. But only two came during the last year. Of the 69 contributions between $1,000 and $10,000, more than 80% came before 2020.
Financial reports filed with the state show that the organization’s fundraising declined even more after it fell short of the signature requirement in February and public concern about the coronavirus increased in March. (Lots of political fundraising declined at a time when time when everyday people were finding themselves without work and wealthier people experienced stock market gyrations and questions about the future viability of their businesses.)
The group said it would make donations to candidates and campaign mailers and digital ads. As of July 3, the group had $419,000. That’s an impressive sounding amount, but advertising is expensive. A mailing of 90,000 of those slick campaign cards can easily top $50,000.
An organization that can activate voters, get them engaged and convince them to act can have an effect, said Kevin Wagner, a political scientist at Florida Atlantic University. “Politics needs voters and money, and politicians need both. So it’s possible. With that said, many people have formed an opinion on what they believe on this issue, so it’s harder to move the politics here because it’s so settled for many people and politicians.”
As difficult a task as it is to get a referendum on the ballot, and approved by the required 60% of voters, changing the Florida Legislature’s outlook on this kind of issue is “considerably more difficult,” Wagner said. It might be the “only effective strategy, but it’s not a short-term one.”