When gun rights eclipse human life — and voters’ wishes
Friday, the Florida House approved the worst pro-gun legislation it’s considered in years. HB 543 would allow any Floridian to carry almost any firearm, almost anywhere they want, with no permits, no background checks, no training, nothing. There’s no joy in the fact that House leaders blocked at least one amendment that would have made things worse, and no excuse for the gleeful self-congratulation that permeated the chamber Thursday and Friday as Republicans shot down amendment after amendment and then rammed through a final vote on Friday, sending the legislation to the Senate.
The debate started with a fiction: The first words that came from the mouth of sponsor Rep. Chuck Brannan, R-Macclenny, during Thursday’s debate were: “This bill is about protecting public safety — both an individual’s right to be safe and our children’s right to be safe at school.”
First off, baloney. This bill is about elevating the rights of gun-rights extremists over everyone else’s, even as support for sensible protections increases. A 2022 survey by the University of South Florida shows more than 90% support among all voters (including Republicans) for universal background checks for all gun purchases, The same survey shows 96% support among Democrats and 79% among Republicans for mandatory waiting periods for all gun purchases and a minimum age of 21 to purchase firearms.
Yet Florida lawmakers made it clear that they’d never be satisfied: An amendment that would have allowed firearms to be openly displayed may have been shot down for this session — but its backers made it clear that it would be back, along with other plans to force guns into places they aren’t wanted and aren’t welcome (but never into legislative offices).
Why didn’t Brannan talk about the rights of 11 people hit by gunfire Jan. 31 in Lakeland, victims of a driveby shooting? Or the rights of four people slaughtered in their Canaveral Groves home March 1, including a 15-year-old girl?
What about the rights of Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons to raise children with his childhood sweetheart? What about the rights of 9-year-old T’yonna Major to pursue her dream of becoming a star gymnast? Does Brannan know the names of the six Florida law enforcement officers who have been shot in 2023 alone?
It appears that he doesn’t know how to respond appropriately to questions about gun violence deaths among young Black men, including one posed by Rep. Michele K. Rayner-Goolsby, D-St. Petersburg.
Instead of giving her a serious answer, he responded with a gibe about her appearance. “You look like a villain,” Brannan said, grinning, before brushing off her query about how this legislation might interact with so-called “Stand Your Ground” laws.
Later, Rayner-Goolsby pleaded for an amendment offered by Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, that would have allowed gun owners to voluntarily surrender their right to access or carry a gun. The intent: To reduce the number of suicides by firearm. Rayner-Goolsby then described, with electrifying dignity, why she wanted so badly for this to pass:
“Members, I’m actually about to get very vulnerable about this. In 2021 as I served in this chamber I actually had a suicide attempt by gun. I no longer have access to that gun. My wife has access to that gun. I had to check myself into a mental health facility,” she said, as reported by the Florida Phoenix. “I say that to remove the stigma from it, because there could be anybody that we know are friends, are family, high functioning people. People who are successful in life. ‘Who seem to have it all.’
“And I almost took my life by a gun, and I’m so glad I didn’t. I’m glad I’m here . ... this is a life-saving amendment. And I understand that people want to have the right to have guns and I get it and you may have a policy and philosophical disagreement about that. But at the end of the day I don’t see the harm in this … amendment if it could save somebody’s life like mine.” Eskamani’s amendment was defeated. That makes it pretty clear, we believe, that this bill will pass the Senate as well — though senators should add the voluntary-surrender language and other sensible provisions.
But Florida voters have to remember this. Remember the reckless disregard that the people in control of state government right now are exhibiting, the breathtaking callousness to human life.
Because Floridians know that guns end far more lives than they save. Proponents of lax gun laws want to make people believe otherwise, but the numbers don’t lie: As they deal blow after blow to sensible gun policy, the number of firearms-related deaths per capita in the United States has ticked steadily upward. More police officers being shot — or shooting, for fear that a suspect has a gun. More domestic-violence deaths via firearm. More people shot by random strangers. More suicides, more accidental deaths, more murders.
That was the agenda this week in Tallahassee. What have we come to?