Perhaps Fine and Rudman are just burnishing their conservative credentials, appealing to far-right Republicans in their congressional primaries.
What is it with the Florida Legislature and guns?
Other states have permissive laws but it seems only Florida lawmakers can attract daily coverage by national news networks, and prompt ponderous think pieces by bigfoot Washington commentators, simply by filing another gun bill. Everybody knows who’ll win our periodic clashes between the Second Amendment absolutists and a few urban members who keep trying to deter crazy behavior but they still make news.
Some states had passed laws allowing citizens to get licenses for concealed weapons before Florida did so back in 1987 but we got all the media attention. Sports Illustrated even headlined its story on the Florida State-Miami football game that year with something like “Shootout in the Gunshine State,” and late-night comics poked fun at all those crazy people in Florida.A mix of fear and derision arose in 2005 when legislators enacted the “stand your ground” law, bolstering use of deadly force in self-defense and removing any legal duty to retreat from a dangerous situation when possible. Critics warned that we’d all be blasting away at anyone who looked a little suspicious, and there have been horrifying mistakes that are duly prosecuted but the law hasn’t made life much more frightening than your usual day in Florida.
Protesters occupied the first floor of the Capitol for weeks in a futile effort to repeal “stand your ground” in 2013. It got a lot of attention but no action. We’ve seen hot legislative debates on a “take your gun to work” bill, and there was one that would have punished doctors for asking patients if they had firearms in their homes. Legislators long ago pre-empted gun regulation to the state level, forbidding cities and counties to adopt meddlesome local ordinances.
In 2023, lawmakers repealed the requirement for concealed-weapons licenses, so law-abiding citizens can tote pistols discretely tucked into a pocket.
After the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, legislators passed some gun restrictions. The National Rifle Association immediately filed a court challenge, of course, and there’s now a move afoot to repeal parts of the package when the 2025 legislative session starts March 4.Sen. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, and Rep. Joel Rudman, R-Navarre, are running in special elections for Congress in separate districts. The elections are needed because Congressman Mike Waltz was picked by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as national security adviser and former Congressman Matt Gaetz resigned. Fine and Rudman won’t be in Tallahassee to manage their bills when things get serious during the session. But there are probably other Republicans who’ll be glad to take over sponsorship.
One bill would allow people to openly carry guns — no more concealing needed — but that one looks doomed in the Senate. Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, is against it, and presiding officers don’t lose on big issues. Albritton said sheriffs and police chiefs have told him Florida doesn’t need open carry, and he’ll take their advice over arguments that how a gun is carried matters less than who carries it.
Fine and Rudman are also gunning for portions of that 2018 post-Parkland package, including part that forbids young adults, ages 18 through 20, from buying rifles and shotguns. They also don’t like a “red flag” provision that permits confiscation of weapons from people ruled to be dangerous to themselves or others.
The sponsors contend that the Second Amendment’s reference to “no law” means precisely what it says, so the state shouldn’t prevent young adults from buying guns or take them away from someone who’s not violated laws.
It’s doubtful either of these restrictions would have stopped Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 when he committed the Parkland murders. But it’s doubtful any law could dissuade someone capable of mass murder.
Perhaps Fine and Rudman are just burnishing their conservative credentials, appealing to far-right Republicans in their congressional primaries. Perhaps the state House will let the open-carry bill die quietly, since Rudman won’t be around and the Senate president will kill it if the bill gets over there. And perhaps lawmakers will decide to let the “red flag” and age restrictions be worked out in the courts, rather than revisiting the Parkland reforms.
Or maybe we’re in for another exciting showdown in the Gunshine State in 2025.
Distributed by The News Service of Florida. Bill Cotterell is a retired Capitol reporter for United Press International and the Tallahassee Democrat. He can be reached at wrcott43@aol.com.