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Gun Bills Line Up In Legislature
February 14, 2017
A measure that would reduce the penalty for people who briefly display a firearm in public and make it a non-criminal offense has been filed in the House.
The proposal (HB 779), filed Friday by Rep. Neil Combee, R-Polk City, is identical to a bill (SB 646) filed by Senate Judiciary Chairman Greg Steube, R-Sarasota. Steube recently turned an omnibus 
measure (SB 140) into a series of bills.
Combee said his proposal would apply to people with concealed-weapons licenses. The proposal would change what is currently a second-degree misdemeanor charge — carrying a fine up to $500 and 60 days in jail — into a $25 noncriminal violation that can be paid to a county clerk of the court.
The proposal also would allow members of the state Cabinet — the attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner — to carry concealed weapons when unaccompanied by full-time Florida Department of Law Enforcement security.
As with the majority of other stand-alone gun-related measures by Steube, the proposal has yet to be scheduled to appear before a House or Senate committee.
On Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, Steube filed nine bills tied to gun ownership rights after telling reporters of his plan to separate the broader bill.
“Just from feeling the tea leaves, it’s probably better to attack it piece by piece,” Steube said at the time.
The Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence has called Steube’s “flurry” of bills “dangerous.”
“The sheer breadth of his call to allow citizens to arm themselves in public, including at schools and airports, would extend legal gun carry opportunities to unprecedented levels in the state of Florida,” the coalition — whose members include the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Florida PTA, Equality Florida and Doctors for America — said in a release.
Florida Carry attorney Eric Friday said Monday that the Second Amendment advocacy group supports Steube’s effort, either as a single bill or as a series of proposals.
“Sen. Steube is fighting to restore the right of people to defend themselves,” Friday said in an email.
Among Steube’s other bills is a proposal (SB 610) that could lead to businesses being held liable if they prevent concealed-carry permit holders from bringing firearms onto their property and the permit holders get injured by other people or animals.
Among the more prominent of Steube’s revised efforts is a bill that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry handguns (SB 644) and to carry firearms on college and university campuses (SB 622).
Both proposals stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee last year, but the former chairman of the committee, Republican Miguel Diaz de la Portilla of Miami, is no longer in the Legislature.
Other proposals by Steube include a measure (SB 618) that would allow people to carry guns in airport terminals; a measure (SB 620) that would allow people to carry guns at legislative meetings; a measure (SB 626) that would allow people to carry guns at local-government meetings; a measure (SB 640) that would allow people to carry guns at career centers; and a measure that would allow concealed firearms licensees to temporarily surrender firearms at courthouse security.
The airport terminal proposal is identical to a measure (HB 6001) filed in November by Rep. Jake Raburn, R-Lithia.
In December, Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, introduced a House version of the campus-carry measure (HB 6005).
The campus-carry proposal faces opposition by university and college leaders, campus law- enforcement officials and faculty members. The Florida Sheriffs Association has opposed efforts to allow open-carry in Florida.
Separately, Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, on Monday filed his own measure (SB 908) that would allow the 1.7 million concealed weapons permit-holders in Florida to carry at the state’s 15 seaports. The proposal also would delete provisions in state law that bar carrying concealed weapons at police and sheriff’s stations, jails, courthouses, polling places, colleges, professional sporting events and establishments where alcohol is sold for consumption on site. The measure also would delete a provision that prohibits people from carrying firearms in places prohibited by federal law.
Baxley also filed a pair of measures (SB 912 and SJR 910) on Monday that would ask voters in November 2018 or in an earlier special election to amend the state Constitution to exempt law enforcement officers and “qualified” retired officers from having to wait three days to purchase handguns.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Comments
9 Responses to “Gun Bills Line Up In Legislature”
I have hope with people like Naomi Allison and chris in Molino understanding both the hypocrisy of “gun laws” and fighting the “we’re (government) the only ones professional enough to carry” attitudes that seem prevalent.
Hoplophobes like Kate and elitist Fudds like mick…not so much.
Sorry mick, but I have frequently out shot cops in both Florida and Georgia at gun ranges and consistently been given the stink eye simply for having a skill. And unlike many documented cases of cops shooting unarmed people, I have never had to fire on anyone to this date. Had to show a potential carjacker in Georgia that his crotch area wasn’t worth my car when he saw the barrel of a .38 pointed there as he tried to open my car door. I guess the firearm told him of the danger he faced and the smile on my face told him of my willingness to remove body parts, because he decided that discretion was the better part of valor and left in a hurry.
2nd amendment. The peoples right shall NOT be infringed. Every law against firearm possesion is an unconstitutional Infringement. Stop this nonsense. If you are not a felon, you should be carrying. Exercise your rights, so as to keep them.
What mick said.
@Mick–’ Those highly trained LEOS you speak of were called to a mans home in July 2013 who was going to his car to get cigarettes. They fired over 15 rounds from a short distance and only hit him twice. I know many people with concealed carry permits and would rather have them in a shooter situation than your run of the mill deputy. Yes there are great officers and swat, etc. But you act like CC holders are just couch potatoes watching Rambo. Saying we don’t need open carry because we have LEOS is like saying we don’t need fire extinguishers because we have firemen.
Kate, considering the danger we were all in last week and multiple school lockdowns I would think being able to defend ourselves would be important. That’s ok you just sit there and complain about republicans while you stay barricaded in your house wondering if you children will make it through the day without being shot.
Concealed weapons permit holders should continue to do just that – conceal them. Something should be done to further protect public places and keeping the criminals guessing is an advantage for those they want to prey on.. There are a large number of CCW holders, that other than their initial firearm training do not train with those firearms on a regular basis.
Open carry opens up possible situations that may not occur if that weapon were concealed. The skewed minds and actions of terrorists and criminals has brought the need for self defense to an everyday fact of life and LEO’s cannot be everywhere they are needed when an active shooter scenario happens.
LEO’s get extensive training in assessing situations where the use of deadly force is warranted. The need to act quickly while under duress in an active shooter situation is not something that John Q Public is ready for.
In today’s society the mindset of the public in many everyday situations lends itself to causing tempers to flare to the point of violent confrontations – it happens everyday, and people are quick to make the wrong decision. Add an open carry firearm into the equation and the wrong decisions could end up deadly
Open carry is going to require from the responsible citizen on going training. It brings up a lot of “what if” situations. A criminal may try and take a firearm from an everyday citizen in an open carry situation. Is that person physically able to fend off an attack and prevent their firearm from being taken away from them? There are brazen criminals out there that see an open carry citizen as an easy mark.
That is just one example of what could happen. Every citizen has the right to protect themselves. It is certainly a sad situation on what this world has come to. It is bad enough that law enforcement officers get no respect – no respect for life has come to the forefront. If you are going to legally carry a firearm you better train. No one can really be prepared for deadly random acts of violence.
Just be vigilant, practice situational awareness, be kind to one another, and to quote a firearms instructor” God Bless you all, get those guns out and train”.
The 2nd adm. of the Constitution gives us the right to protect ourselves. Enough said.
The NRA supports peoples constitutional rights..republicans and democrats your NRA money at work!
Your NRA money at work, paying off republican politicians in Florida.