| DATE: | January 15, 2020 |
| TO: | USF & NRA Members and Friends |
| FROM: | Marion P. Hammer |
| USF Executive Director | |
| NRA Past President |
On Monday, 1/13/20, it happened again. Senate President Bill Galvano picked a fight with Floridians who believe in the constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Arms. It is well known -- even by the media -- that in 2018 Bill Galvano orchestrated the creation and passage of the "Parkland Gun Control Bill." And, of course, it didn't stop gun crime or criminals. It only took away rights of law-abiding people.
So now, he's back for more gun control and it appears likely that Bloomberg's $500,000.00 "donation" to Senate President Bill Galvano is behind yet another Galvano gun control bill. -- SB-7028 – an admitted priority of Galvano.
All but one of the Republican Senators on the Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee put Galvano's wishes ahead of principle, the Constitution, their Oath of Office and YOU, their constituents, and voted for a gun control bill.
FORGET that some of them were not truthful with NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida about supporting the Second Amendment. REMEMBER, they KNOW gun control doesn't work. They know that only law-abiding people obey the law and criminals don't care what the law says.
When RINOs (Republican In Name Only) vote like Anti-gun Democrats, one has to wonder how many real Republicans are left in the Florida Senate.
If Senate Republicans, who vote for gun control, don't care about compromising their own integrity, you have to wonder if they care about what they are doing to the character the Republican Party?
Michael Bloomberg is no friend to Republicans! He's running in the Democratic Primary for President of the US on an anti-gun platform. Why are Senate Republicans doing his bidding?
You can ask them:
Tom Lee 850-487-5020 Lee.Tom@flsenate.gov
Keith Perry 850-487-5008 Perry.Keith@flsenate.gov
Ed Hooper 850-487-5016 Hooper.Ed@flsenate.gov
Travis Hutson 850-487-5007 Hutson.Travis@flsenate.gov
***IMPORTANT NEW DEVELOPMENT***
The media is now reporting that House Speaker Jose Oliva and Governor Ron DeSantis are pushing back against this massive gun control bill. Speaker Oliva and Governor DeSantis are to be commended for working to protect Second Amendment rights. They KNOW gun control doesn't stop crime or criminals.
BACKGROUND:
SB-7028 by the Committee on Infrastructure & Security is a gun control bill. Among other things, it contains a massive two-pronged “Universal” Background Check system that is the worst I have ever seen.
It is clearly meant to simply ban all private sales of firearms through red tape and fear.
This bill contains so much red tape and nonsense that there is almost no way a law-abiding person could comply.
The only thing we know for sure is that this bill will only stop law-abiding people from exercising a constitutional right and it will be completely ignored by criminals.
Voting in favor of this bill is like a doctor giving a patient an antibiotic for a virus. The doctor knows an antibiotic won’t cure the illness but at least he can make people think he’s “doing something.”
Supporting a bill so you can say you’re doing something is “political eyewash.”
This bill is nothing less than GUN CONTROL ON STEROIDS.
Any person of SOUND MIND knows that only law-abiding people obey the law and that criminals don’t care what the law says.
Make no mistake, 4 Senators who claim to be Republicans voted for massive gun control: Not to uphold their oath of office; not to protect and defend the Constitution; not to represent the rights of law-abiding gun owners in their districts.
The article below is reprinted with permission.
SENATE PANEL BACKS GUN CONTROL MEASURE
January 13, 2020
TALLAHASSEE --- Over the objections of the National Rifle Association, a Senate panel Monday unanimously signed off on a far-reaching measure that would close the gun-show “loophole,” create a record-keeping system for private gun sales and set aside $5 million to establish a “statewide strategy for violence prevention.”
The proposal (SB 7028) is a priority of Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, as evidenced by the Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee’s consideration and passage of the measure the day before the 2020 legislative session begins.
The sweeping legislation would require background checks and a three-day waiting period for firearms sold “on property to which the public has the right of access,” such as “a flea market, a gun show, or a firearm exhibit.”
The measure would also mandate that guns be securely stored in households and other places where minors under age 18 --- up from the current threshold of 16 --- could have access to the weapons.
The bill also would create a new section of law that would require guns to be stored to prevent access “by a person of unsound mind.”
And the proposal would impose new requirements for private gun sales. Under the measure, individuals who sell guns to other people would be required to fill out a form that would include the name, date of birth and identification information of the purchaser. The affidavit, which would include background questions aimed at ensuring the purchaser is eligible to buy a gun, would have to be notarized.
The measure contains “the worst universal background check language I have ever seen,” Marion Hammer, the NRA’s Florida lobbyist and a former president of the national gun-rights organization, told the Senate panel.
“It appears to be an actual attempt to ban private sales through red tape and fear,” she said. “Asking average citizens to create what amounts to a government form and get it notarized is ridiculous.”
The legislation is “nothing less than gun control on steroids,” Hammer said.
But committee Chairman Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, said the legislation “just makes sense.”
The Senate’s proposal comes as mass shootings in Florida and throughout the nation continue to rise. At least 81 people have died in mass shootings scattered throughout Florida over the past three years.
In 2018, the Legislature for the first time in decades passed a handful of gun-control measures after a massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that killed 17 students and faculty members and injured 17 others.
Lee, a former Senate president, said he empathized with gun owners who are exercising their Second Amendment rights.
“I know that you don’t see NRA members in the headlines of these mass shootings,” he told reporters following Monday’s meeting. “But we have a job to do. We can’t just sit by idly while our children are killing children and pretend this isn’t happening.”
While the Senate measure is a Galvano priority, it lacks a companion measure in the House. Lee said House leaders are “well aware we're working on this.”
“Frankly, a lot of this is going to happen president-to-speaker and work down from there. But they’re very well aware that this is a priority for the president,” he said.
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