Sunday, March 26, 2017

Florida Senator Steube to Hold Hearing on Open Carry Decriminalization



Gun owners expected positive things when Greg Steube was elected to the state senate last year. Senator Steube introduced a number of gun law reform measures.  The measures have received large majority support in the House, but were stymied in the Senate. They were bottled up in the Judiciary Committee. The former Chair of that committee lost his primary last year.

Senator Steube is now the Chair of the Judiciary Committee. In a weird twist, Senator Anitere Flores (R) Miami, who has been a staunch Second Amendment supporter, reversed positions and is not the blocking the reform measures from passing the Committee. The Committee has 5 Republicans and 4 Democrats. One swing vote determines if a measure will pass, if Committee members vote on party lines.

Senator Steube hopes that he will be able to pass some reforms. From newschief.com:
Judiciary Chairman Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican who has been among the leading proponents of Second Amendment rights since joining the Legislature in 2010, said he will eventually take up a major gun bill in his committee.

That could be a proposal (SB 644) that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry firearms; a proposal (SB 622) that would allow them to carry weapons on college or university campuses; or an even more wide-ranging measure by Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
SB-646 is scheduled to be heard in the Judiciary Committee on March 28th. The bill does not legalize open carry, but it removes criminal penalties and provides for the payment of a civil fine of $25 instead.  It allows for temporary open display of a firearm by people who are carrying concealed weapons. From the bill(pdf):
A bill to be entitled An act relating to weapons and firearms; amending s.790.053, F.S.; deleting a statement of applicability relating to violations of carrying a concealed weapon or firearm; reducing the penalty for a violation of specified provisions relating to openly carrying weapons; making a fine payable to the clerk of the court; amending s. 790.06, F.S.; providing that a person licensed to carry a concealed weapon or firearm who is lawfully carrying a firearm does not violate certain provisions if the firearm is temporarily and openly displayed; 
It is unclear how Senator Flores will vote on this mild reform. The NRA is urging members to contact their State Senator to vote in favor of SB-646.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, government works on delegated authority, Right? what is delegated authority? delegated authority is the rights of the citizens we allow government to use. rights we have even if government did not exist. If law enforcement officers can open carry we can open carry we have that right first before we hire cops to use it. the bill of rights was written to limit government on what laws it could pass concerning what rights were natural rights we have without the existence of government. rights given to us by God before any form of government was created by man. the constitution does not give us any rights we have always had those rights. the constitution was written and ratified to guarantee the government is limited in its authority as to what it can do concerning those God given rights. the constitution is a limit on government not a limit on the people that allow government to exist. the constitution places the government in the position of guaranteeing those God given rights and forbids government authority to infringe on those rights. the ninth amendment exist to inform government our rights listed in the bill of rights are not limited to just the enumerated rights and that we have other rights not listed called un enumerated rights. Un enumerated rights are a very long list of anything not by specific wording written in the constitution. the framers made it impossible to change the constitution without the permission of the citizens, government can not increase its own authority or add words that do not already exist in writing in the constitution. read the entre constitution and find the words open or concealed carry or any of the other un written infringing words. government can not increase its authority by passing laws or acts that add infringing words. those words must be added to the constitution by a properly ratified amendment. ratified by we the people. any word or phrase not specifically written in the confines of the actual constitution are void and unenforceable because government did not have our authority to ad them. the wording does exist in the constitution to force compliance with these limitations on the power of government. government can not add words without our permission. the citizens are the only people with the power to add or remove words from the constitution. adding words or removing words is what is called an amendment , a change. the people must approve that change or it is unconstitutional and unenforceable.

Anonymous said...

What does it mean when no one ever challenges my understanding of what the constitutional actually says? I think it must mean I AM 100% CORRECT and that I am successfully informing the people that need to know or they are in complete agreement with me. I really hope I am spreading the words that people need to know and will benefit from. Thanks to DEAN, he puts up with my long posts. I wish we had an edit feature so I could correct some of my typing mistakes when I find them after I hit post.