Guns were king during the last couple of legislative sessions in Florida. The Republican super-majorities of both chambers passed laws to imprison pediatricians who so much as asked if there was a gun in the home. They voted to allow visitors in state parks to bring all the guns they wanted into campsites, where they could presumably blast away at fellow campers who seem threatening. At the same time, they worked tirelessly to ensure that employers on private property could not set their own rules prohibiting employees from bringing guns to work, which surely renders annual evaluations much more high stakes.
Florida’s very own Marion Hammer, inducted into the Florida Woman’s Hall of Fame by former Gov. Jeb Bush, and longtime National Rifle Association (NRA) head and lobbyist, led the way on expanding the rights of guns to go wherever they wanted, no questions asked (under penalty of prison). The Republicans in the Florida House and Senate just could not seem to do enough of her bidding.
And now they have to live with it. In a story surely destined for the Department of Ironies, the Florida legislature is finding out firsthand what it means to bring guns into everyone’s personal space. And many of them don’t like it.
…two months after a new law made it easier to bring concealed guns into the Capitol, the Senate security force has installed special alert buttons on the phone of every senator and staffer…
“Instead of reversing what we did, we’re resorting to panic buttons,” said Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich of Weston, who opposed the new gun law. “It’s unnerving. My staff is very nervous.”
The new lobbyiest-written rules are a big change from the sanity of the past.
For years, Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents asked concealed weapons permit holders entering the Capitol to surrender their weapons and store them in a police lock box. If they refused, FDLE agents would notify the sergeant’s office, which would assign a guard to follow the person through the building.
But a law that took effect Oct. 1 pre-empts city and county governments from regulating guns except where the state expressly allows it. That includes the state Capitol, where guns are prohibited only in the House and Senate chambers and committee rooms.
I’ve been to the Capitol during session, and it’s a mad house. Every day, representatives from groups from all walks of life, every profession, and each of Florida’s 67 counties set up tables, hold marches, serve food, dress alike, carry signs, wear buttons, and generally jostle elbow to shoulder into the hallways, elevators, and offices of their elected representatives.
What the hey, let’s really spice it up and let people tuck guns into their waistbands, you know, just in case.
The Capitol building is naturally a place where emotions run high as the state’s most controversial political issues are debated often with large crowds in attendance. Every year brings a handful of incidents where an irate citizen or two is escorted from a committee room, an office or the public gallery in the House or Senate…
“I’m not worried about it,” said Sen. Greg Evers, a Panhandle Republican who has such a license.
Indeed, why worry? It’s not like anyone could fly under the radar, what with such stringent requirements for carrying a concealed weapon. I mean, people have to be at least 21 with no felony or controlled substance convictions and pass a gun safety course. What could go wrong?
Oh yeah, Arizona, Gabby Giffords, and all those dead people. O.K., but besides that?
