Desantis’ hypocrisy on the right to bear arms

We’re confused about Florida Gov. Ron Desantis’ position on guns. He talks a lot about his ardent support for the Second Amendment. He has said repeatedly that he believes putting guns into the hands of law-abiding people would make us all safer. He backs the familiar talking point that a good guy with a gun is a good defense against a bad guy with a gun. So why doesn’t he want those same law-abiding people to carry guns around him?

The Washington Post reported last week that the Desantis campaign wanted guns banned from a victory party at the Tampa Convention Center in November. Emails exchanged between a convention center security manager, a city administrator and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show that the Desantis campaign didn’t want guns allowed into the party, but also wanted the city to take responsibility for the ban.

The “you take the political heat” approach isn’t exactly a profile in courage.

An email from the security manager stated: “FDLE explained that Desantis/his campaign will not tell their attendees they are not permitted to carry because of the political optics (Republicans being in support of [the Second Amendment] and all). ... Basically, it sounds like they want us to say that it is our policy to disallow firearms in the event space if anyone asks.”

A city administrator quickly emailed back: “We are not saying anything about concealed carry. That is the responsibility of the renter. We follow State Statute that permits concealed carry.”

Days earlier, gun rights advocates had raised concerns about a gun ban at the Alachua County Republican Party’s annual fundraiser, where Desantis was scheduled to be the keynote speaker, the Post reported.

Tim Marden is now the chairperson of the Alachua County GOP. He told the Post that he skipped the event when he found out the Desantis campaign insisted on metal detectors. “In my thinking, it was a little hypocritical to have this measure in place for law-abiding citizens at a time when a lot of folks in the gun community will condemn a Democrat for having a security force,” he said. And that’s from a passionate supporter of the Republican Party.

Hypocrisy is to politics as sunshine is to Florida, but Desantis has made it abundantly clear that he favors the right to bear arms, even at the expense of commonsense measures that could prevent some shootings. He has railed against the dangers of gun-free zones, describing them as easy targets for mass shooters. He often leans on the Constitution as granting people the right to carry concealed weapons in public places. He says he supports the recent push to allow people to carry a gun without a permit. So which is it? Does he think guns are a deterrent to crime, or aren’t they?

Or perhaps what he has meant all along is: “I’m all for the right to bear arms, but just not around me.”