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Listen:Days after the mass shooting at Florida State University, legislators are entering a new week of the legislative session and House Democrats are raising red flags about gun legislation.

Democratic representatives discussed various topics on a call Monday, including the shooting that killed two.

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell claims that the Democratic Party has brought up gun control laws that don’t get heard by the Republican supermajority.

“If we have the time to rename the Gulf of Mexico, we have the time to talk about one of the leading causes of death in our country,” Driskell told reporters.

Last month, HB 759 passed in the House.

It would repeal some gun control protections made after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, including reducing the minimum age to buy a firearm from 21 to 18.

Democratic Representative Christine Hunchofsky represents Parkland.

“I hope that it’s done for this session, but, as we know, nothing’s done until we sine die. But I do sincerely hope that it is done for this session,” Hunschofsky told reporters.

Butne Hunschofsky hopes that after the FSU shooting, legislators will reconsider.

“I understand the pain and the fact that lives are changed forever when experiencing death and a tragedy like a shooting,” Hunschofsky said.

The Senate version of the bill has not entered committee.

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TALLAHASSEE — In an issue rooted in the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Florida House on Wednesday approved repealing a law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns.

The Republican-controlled House voted 78-34 to pass the bill (HB 759), though it remains unclear whether the Senate will take up the issue. The House passed repeal bills in 2023 and 2024, but they did not get through the Senate.

As in past years, this year’s bill drew heavy — and, at times, emotional — debate.

Then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature in 2018 approved the law to increase the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21 after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 17 students and faculty members at the Parkland school.

Opponents of the bill Wednesday said family members of Parkland victims urged lawmakers to pass the higher minimum age. Rep. Robin Bartleman, a Weston Democrat who was a Broward County School Board member at the time of the mass shooting, urged House members to “continue to honor the promise to those families.”

“Every single time we do this, members, it reopens wounds you can’t even imagine,” said Rep. Dan Daley, a Coral Springs Democrat who graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

But supporters of the bill said 18-year-olds can do such things as vote, join the military and serve on juries. They said 18-year-olds also should be able to buy guns.

“To me, this is simply a matter of consistency,” Rep. Judson Sapp, R-Green Cove Springs, said.

Federal law has long prevented people under 21 from buying handguns. While the Florida law bars purchases of rifles and other long guns, it allows people under 21 to receive guns, for example, as gifts from family members.

Shortly after the Florida law passed in 2018, the National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month, in an 8-4 ruling, upheld the law.

Opponents of the repeal bill Wednesday cited that ruling as they tried to counter arguments that the law violates the Second Amendment. Also, opponents cited research about brain development of young adults and their heightened involvement in shootings.

“The science and the facts don’t lie on this issue,” Daley said.

But supporters of the bill raised scenarios such as the law preventing young single mothers from buying guns to protect themselves.

“To me, this bill is about the right to defend yourself, the right to keep and bear arms,” bill sponsor Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, said.

Wednesday’s vote was largely along party lines, with one Democrat, Jose Alvarez of Kissimmee, supporting the bill. Six Republicans voted against it. They were Rep. Hillary Cassel, R-Dania Beach; Rep. Anne Gerwig, R-Wellington; Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach; Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point; Rep. Vicki Lopez, R-Miami; and Rep. Susan Valdes, R-Tampa.

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Listen:A controversial Florida bill to reduce the age to purchase a rifle or other long gun from 21 to 18 will be heard on the house Floor this week.

Democratic Minority House Leader Fentrice Driskell called the bill a betrayal to the families of victims of the Parkland school shooting.

In 2018, the state increased the age to buy firearms from 18 to 21 after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that killed 17.

House Bill 759, sponsored by Republican Representative Michelle Salzman, seeks to reverse that requirement.

While presenting the bill In a subcommittee last week, Salzman said the 2018 decision was made in a moment of anxiety.

“When you are 18 years of age, you can sign into a contract, you can get married, you can get divorced, you can join the military, you can be sentenced to death,” Salzman said.

Democratic Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell calls the bill reckless.

“Both law enforcement leaders and survivors have repeatedly said that the 21 and up provision works. Yet this Republican legislature is willingly choosing to ignore those on the front lines, and the communities that are still grieving,” Driskell said.

She also questioned Republicans’ motives for pushing this bill. It was supported by the National Rifle Association.

The bill is set to be heard on the house floor on Wednesday.

Also this week, the House will take a look at possibly overriding some vetoes from Governor Ron DeSantis.

The House will consider overriding vetoes for four projects totaling over 5 million dollars.

Projects include water systems in Central and North Florida, veterans benefits, and staffing systems for the Florida Department of Corrections.

Driskell said her party is glad the legislature is taking a look at the vetoes.

She said last year, DeSantis vetoed infrastructure items that could have made a difference for the Tampa area.

“If those projects had been allowed to stand, then it’s perhaps that – or it’s possible rather – that some of that infrastructure that would’ve been greatly needed in Tampa Bay could’ve helped avoid some of the dramatic flooding we saw after we suffered those hurricanes last fall,” Driskell said.

During Hurricane Milton, areas in flood zones considered less prone to flooding received major damage.

Currently, Hillsborough County is undergoing an independent investigation of what could have gone wrong.

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TALLAHASSEE — Saying the restriction is “consistent with our historical tradition of firearm regulation,” a federal appeals court on Friday upheld the constitutionality of a Florida law that raised the minimum age to purchase rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21.

The 8-4 ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came after seven years of legal wrangling in the National Rifle Association’s challenge to a 2018 law passed after a mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 students and faculty members.

Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time, used a semiautomatic rifle to gun down the victims at his former school. The NRA filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the gun-age restriction shortly after the law passed.

Friday’s ruling by the full Atlanta-based appeals court upheld a three-judge panel’s decision and outlined the history of the nation’s gun laws, from its founding to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions setting guidelines for determining how to apply the Second Amendment. While the law barred people under 21 from buying rifles and long guns, they still can receive them, for example, as gifts from family members.

“From this history emerges a straightforward conclusion: the Florida law is consistent with our regulatory tradition in why and how it burdens the right of minors to keep and bear arms,” Chief Judge William Pryor wrote. “Because minors have yet to reach the age of reason, the Florida law prohibits them from purchasing firearms, yet it allows them to receive firearms from their parents or another responsible adult.”

Judges Adalberto Jordan, Robin Rosenbaum, Jill Pryor, Kevin Newsom, Britt Grant, Nancy Abudu and Charles Wilson joined the majority opinion. Judge Andrew Brasher wrote a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Judges Elizabeth Branch, Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck.

The majority ruling relied heavily on U.S. Supreme Court standards, established in recent cases, saying that Second Amendment restrictions must be rooted in the “prevailing understanding” of gun rights from the nation’s founding era.

“The founders’ generation shared the view that minors lacked the reason and judgment necessary to be trusted with legal rights,” William Pryor wrote.

The chief judge noted that, at the time of the founding, minors generally could not purchase guns because they were deemed to lack the judgment and discretion to enter contracts and that minors were subject to the power of their parents.

The opinion noted that the Florida law also is consistent with the country’s regulatory tradition because it allows minors to possess rifles and long guns although they are prohibited from purchasing them.

The 2018 law “burdens the right no more than … historical restrictions because it prohibits purchase but preserves access to firearms with parental consent,” William Pryor wrote.

“From the founding to the late-19th century, our law limited the purchase of firearms by minors in different ways. The Florida law also limits the purchase of firearms by minors. And it does so for the same reason: to stop immature and impulsive individuals, like Nikolas Cruz, from harming themselves and others with deadly weapons. Those similarities are sufficient to confirm the constitutionality of the Florida law,” the majority ruling said.

But Brasher, in a dissent, disputed the historical roots of the age restriction.

“There were no age-based limitations” on the “right to keep and bear arms either before, during, or immediately after the adoption of the Bill of Rights,” Brasher wrote. “This is where the majority opinion loses its bearings. Simply put, there is nothing in our nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation that resembles Florida’s complete prohibition on an adult’s ability to purchase a firearm based only on that adult’s age. Nothing in the founding-era legal landscape is analogous to the challenged law. To the extent the history says anything about age and firearms, it says that the states and federal government expected all men over the age of 18 to be armed.”

But William Pryor called the dissent’s characterization of people between the ages of 18 and 21 as adults as “unavailing,” arguing that it “discounts the key fact that, at the founding and until the late 20th century, the age of majority was 21.”

The majority opinion also questioned whether the dissenting judges would support any age restriction for firearm sales as constitutional.

“If they do not, their position would require enjoining the enforcement of numerous federal and state laws, including a federal law that prohibits licensed sellers from selling ‘any firearm or ammunition’ to an individual under the age of 18,” the majority opinion said.

The full appeals court decided to take up the issue after the three-judge panel’s ruling. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker also upheld the law.

But Friday’s decision likely will not end the debate about the law, which could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After the ruling, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who took office last month, said he would not defend the law. Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped Uthmeier to replace former Attorney General Ashley Moody after DeSantis appointed her to the U.S. Senate.

“Men and women old enough to fight and die for our country should be able to purchase firearms to defend themselves and their families,” Uthmeier posted on social media.

Also, a state House panel on Wednesday approved a measure (HB 759) that would repeal the age restriction. The House passed such bills in 2023 and 2024, but the Senate refused to support the proposals.

DeSantis this month signaled that he would support revising state gun laws, including the gun-age restriction.

But state House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, praised Friday’s ruling.

“I am thrilled the 11th Circuit confirmed what we’ve been saying for years, that reasonable, responsible gun laws are both constitutional and appropriate to help keep us safe. We can, and should, limit someone from being able to purchase an AR 15 until they are at least 21 years old,” Driskell, D-Tampa, said in an email. “Any question about constitutionality has now been clearly settled. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act is lawful and should continue to protect our communities as it has since 2018. Florida is safer for it.”

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TALLAHASSEE — Nearly seven years after the law passed, the National Rifle Association contends that a new court ruling bolsters its constitutional challenge to a Florida measure that bars people under age 21 from buying rifles and shotguns.

The NRA on Monday filed a document at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that cited a ruling last week by another federal appeals court in a Louisiana case. That ruling by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a decades-old federal ban on selling handguns to people under 21 violates the Second Amendment.

Both cases have played out as the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has issued closely watched decisions that said gun laws need to be consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition” of gun regulation. A key question in the Florida and Louisiana cases has centered on how the Supreme Court decisions should be applied to bans on gun sales to people under age 21.

The panel of the 5th Circuit said in a 29-page ruling last Thursday that the “federal government has presented scant evidence that 18-to-20-year-olds’ firearm rights during the (nation’s) founding era were restricted in a similar manner to the contemporary federal handgun purchase ban.” It concluded that the federal law and related regulations “are unconstitutional in light of our nation’s historic tradition of firearm regulation.”

The NRA, in its filing Monday at the 11th Circuit, argued that the Louisiana ruling “makes clear that Florida’s ban is inconsistent with historical tradition.”

“Even more so than the federal laws banning commercial sale of handguns to young adults, Florida’s young adult ban is inconsistent with historical tradition and violates the Second Amendment,” John Parker Sweeney, an attorney for the NRA, wrote in a document known as supplemental authority.

But an attorney for Florida disputed the NRA’s arguments in a filing Tuesday, saying the Florida law is “fully consistent with the common law at the founding, which prohibited minors in most instances from purchasing firearms.” The filing drew a distinction with the 5th Circuit ruling, which it said focused heavily on firearm access and ownership by minors at the time of the nation’s founding.

Florida’s law does not bar people under 21 from owning rifles and other long guns, which they could receive, for example, as gifts from family members.

“(The 5th Circuit ruling) stated that ‘militia members were required to furnish their own weapons,’ but that ignores that the states either exempted minors from acquiring firearms, required parents to furnish the requisite firearms, or held parents liable for minors mustering without firearms,” Florida’s attorney, Christopher Baum, wrote.

Florida lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Scott approved the ban on people under age 21 buying rifles and other long guns after the February 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 students and faculty members. The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was 19 at the time and used a semiautomatic rifle.

The NRA quickly filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law, but Chief U.S. District Mark Walker upheld the age restriction. A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld the law, but the full appeals court then decided to take up the issue.

The full court held what is known as an “en banc” hearing in October but has not issued an opinion.

While the case has been pending, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 issued a major decision in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. That decision established that gun laws must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

Last year, the Supreme Court issued another decision in a case known as United States vs. Rahimi, upholding a ban on gun possession by people under domestic violence restraining orders. The 11th Circuit put the Florida case on hold until the Rahimi decision was issued, and both sides filed a series of briefs addressing how the ruling applies — or doesn’t apply — to the age restriction.

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Listen:A controversial bill filed for the upcoming legislative session would allow Floridians to openly carry firearms in the state, and it’s received scrutiny from both sides of the aisle.

The new measure would allow people to publicly carry a gun that is fully or partially visible.

Currently, open carry is a second-degree misdemeanor with exceptions for law enforcement and people hunting.

The proposal removes open carry bans in schools, colleges, and polling places.

Cecile Scoon, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, opposes the bill.

“We’ve had a lot of issues in the state of Florida with people being shot and feeling very uncomfortable walking around.” Scoon told WMNF.

She said the bill will escalate fears of gun violence in the state.

“I believe in guns, but they just need to be used safely. We’re not saying ‘don’t have weapons and don’t protect yourself’, we’re just saying let’s all try to use them in the most safe way that we can.” Scoon said.

Florida Senate President Ben Albritton said he is against the measure, and police oppose it too.

The other measure is a proposal to lower the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns from 21 to 18.

The age was raised after the 2018 Parkland school shooting that killed 17 people.

Republican state Senator Randy Fine filed the bill to lower the minimum age, but when it comes time to vote on the measure in 2025’s session, he won’t be there.

Fine is running to fill the Congressional seat to replace Mike Waltz — President-Elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor.

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Republican senator files SB 94 to repeal the law preventing people under 21 from buying long gunsA Republican State Senator, Randy Fine, has proposed repealing a law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns.

HIV diagnoses among Black women in Pinellas County have more than tripled since 2021Data shows the HIV count for Black biological women going from 5 in 2021 to 16 in 2023.

Pinellas County Schools won’t remove the book “The Artivist”A committee of Pinellas parents and teachers has unanimously rejected a request to remove a book from elementary school libraries because of its political views.

The Tampa Bay Rays think the Pinellas County Commission will approve funding for a new stadiumThe Tampa Bay Rays president said the team believes that the Pinellas County Commission will approve funding for a new stadium at its meeting next Tuesday.

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Amid a long-running legal battle about the issue, a Republican state senator Tuesday proposed repealing a law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns. Sen. Randy Fine, a Brevard County Republican who is running in a special election for a congressional seat, filed the proposal (SB 94) for consideration during the 2025 legislative session, which will start March 4. The bill is similar to a measure that passed the House during the 2024 session but failed in the Senate. In 2018, lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Scott approved raising the minimum age to buy rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21 after a mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people. Federal law bars people under 21 from buying handguns. The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit contending that the 2018 law violates Second Amendment rights. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker upheld the age restriction. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld the law, but the NRA asked the full appeals court to consider the case. The issue remains pending at the Atlanta-based appeals court. Fine, who was elected to the Senate last month after eight years in the House, qualified last week to run in a special election to replace U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., in Congressional District 6. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Waltz to become national security adviser.

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State Rep. Joel Rudman, R-Navarre filed a bill Monday that would allow Floridians to openly carry firearms, though Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, has expressed opposition to the idea.

The bill (HB 31) also seeks to repeal a “red-flag” law that allows authorities to take guns from people found to pose a “significant danger” to themselves or others.

The Legislature approved the red-flag law as part of a wide-ranging measure after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Rudman, who is running in a special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said in a Facebook post that the bill “repeals Florida’s unconstitutional red flag laws and makes Florida an open carry state. ‘Shall not be infringed’ will mean something here in the Gunshine state!”

Because of his congressional candidacy, Rudman will leave the state House before the 2025 legislative session, which will start March 4.

Floridians can carry concealed weapons, but lawmakers have stopped short of allowing people to openly carry firearms.

When asked about the issue last month, Albritton cited opposition from law-enforcement officials to what is known as open carry.

“Let me be clear about this, I’ve supported law enforcement my entire life. It’s the way I was raised, and I’ve been super-consistent as a legislator to support law enforcement in Florida. And I’d encourage you to check that record,” Albritton told reporters. “And I stand with them today in opposition. They oppose it. I trust my law-enforcement officials, and that’s where I stand.”

The red-flag law has drawn pushback from Second Amendment advocates and some law-enforcement officials. But supporters say the law has saved lives.

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Saying he is aligned with the position of law-enforcement officials, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, expressed opposition Tuesday to allowing people to openly carry firearms in Florida.

“Let me be clear about this, I’ve supported law enforcement my entire life. It’s the way I was raised, and I’ve been super-consistent as a legislator to support law enforcement in Florida. And I’d encourage you to check that record,” Albritton told reporters after an organization session in which he became president. “And I stand with them today in opposition. They oppose it. I trust my law-enforcement officials, and that’s where I stand.”

Floridians can carry concealed weapons, but lawmakers have stopped short of allowing openly carrying firearms. Second Amendment groups have long sought an open-carry law.

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TALLAHASSEE — Amid evolving interpretations of how firearms can be restricted, a federal appeals court on Tuesday grappled with the constitutionality of a Florida law that bars people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns.

Florida lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Scott included the age restriction in a sweeping school safety measure passed shortly after Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time, used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 17 students and faculty members at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Federal law already prevented people under 21 from buying handguns.

The National Rifle Association challenged the state law, but Chief U.S. District Mark Walker upheld the age restriction. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld the law, but the NRA asked the full appeals court to consider the case.

During what is known as an “en banc” hearing Tuesday in Atlanta, judges wrestled with questions about how to apply a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings involving gun rights to the Florida law.

In a June decision in a case known as United States vs. Rahimi, the Supreme Court backed a ban on gun possession by people under domestic violence restraining orders. The 11th Circuit put the Florida case on hold until the Rahimi decision was issued, and both sides filed a series of briefs addressing how the ruling applies — or doesn’t apply — to the age restriction.

A major 2022 Supreme Court ruling, in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, established that gun laws must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

Tuesday’s arguments focused, in part, on the country’s history of regulating guns.

John Parker Sweeney, a lawyer representing the NRA, said the age restriction is unconstitutional because it “was not a tradition known … at the time the Second Amendment was first adopted” in the 18th century.

Judge Robin Rosenbaum was among the members of the court who pressed Sweeney on the cut-off age for purchasing guns.

“Here’s the problem with that. The problem is that the common law at that time gave no rights to anyone under 21, including the ability, the practical ability, to purchase a firearm,” Rosenbaum said, adding that people under 21 largely worked for their parents on farms, did not have their own sources of income and were unable to enter into contracts to purchase guns on credit.

“They couldn’t sue, they couldn’t do a lot of things,” Rosenbaum said.

In addition, states at the time made parents responsible for purchasing firearms for people under age 21 who were part of the militia or the military, Rosenbaum said.

“So how does that establish 18 as the number?” she asked.

“Anyone with cash could go in” and purchase a firearm at the time, including people under 21, Sweeney said.

“I’m not denying that the common law imposed limitations that could impact the ability to purchase, but it’s not a prohibition on the purchase of firearms,” Sweeney said.

Christopher Baum, a Florida deputy solicitor general, argued that the state’s age restriction “is consistent with the principles underlying this nation’s history and tradition of regulating firearms.”

Some of the judges, however, questioned the justification of prohibiting 18-year-olds, who are adults, from purchasing guns. The Florida law allows people under age 21 to possess or use guns, such as guns they receive as gifts.

“One of the issues I have is, one of the arguments that you make is that the ban, quote, ‘ensures that parents continue to play a key role in supervising and facilitating 18-to-20 year olds’ access to firearms.’ The issue is, though, an 18-year-old in the state of Florida or anywhere in any of the 50 states is a legal adult, and parents have no role or responsibility,” Judge Barbara Lagoa, a former Florida Supreme Court justice, said.

Judge Robert Luck followed up on the line of questioning, noting that the “justification” for treating 18-to-20-year-olds at the time of the founding was that parents had an “obligation” to take care of children under age 21.

“Florida now has cut 18-to 21-year-olds loose and said, ‘You’re on your own, your parents have no obligation.’ But then Florida is trying to treat them as children just for firearm purposes, and that’s where it seems like there’s a mismatch between the how and the why of these older laws and the how and the why of Florida’s law,” Luck, who also served on the Florida Supreme Court, said.

“Well, since the founding, the age of majority has differed for different activities,” Baum said.

“How old do you have to be to purchase alcohol beverages in Florida?” Chief Judge William Pryor asked.

“Twenty-one, and also for tobacco,” Baum replied.

“None of those are constitutional rights, correct?” Lagoa asked.

“That’s right, your honor,” Baum acknowledged, adding that the age of majority was a “legislative decision” that could be changed.

Lagoa was unpersuaded by the state’s arguments, repeating that “you can’t regulate a parent” in Florida.

“So what is the justification for saying, well for a 20 ½-year-old you have to ask your parents to buy a firearm but you don’t have to ask them to rent an apartment for you?” she asked.

“The justification is the historical justification. That’s the way it was at the founding,” the state’s lawyer said.

Judges also sparred over whether any laws existed at the time of the nation’s founding that gave minors the right to purchase guns.

“We’re talking about a very different legal regime, I mean, most law was the common law,” Pryor said.

But other judges said that laws at the time ensured that minors had access to guns and did not make purchasing firearms a crime.

Sweeney conceded that things have changed over the centuries.

“It’s clear from this discussion that the founding era was a different time from ours and while they didn’t trust minors with credit, they certainly trusted them with firearms,” Sweeney argued.

“But they didn’t trust them with firearms” unless they were under supervision, Rosenbaum said.

“There is certainly historical evidence that shows there was a concern of our founding generation that individuals who were under the age of 21 would always be subject to the supervision of somebody else when they were in the military or the militia, or even with their parents, with firearms,” she added.

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TALLAHASSEE — Prosecutors are urging a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Florida law that bars people from openly carrying firearms, saying the law is consistent with the “historical tradition” of gun regulation.

Lawyers for defendant Thomas Bakkedahl, the state attorney in the 19th Judicial Circuit, filed an 18-page motion last week seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed in August by the Second Amendment group Gun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation and gun owner Richard Hughes.

While Florida allows people to carry concealed firearms, it does not allow openly carrying guns.

The lawsuit relies heavily on a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including a 2022 decision in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that focused on the “historical tradition” of firearms regulation.

“According to the United States Supreme Court, the only way Florida can justify such an extreme restriction is to show a broad and enduring Founding-era historical tradition of governments banning the peaceable open carry of firearms by law-abiding persons, such that demonstrates that the Founders never understood the Second Amendment to protect open carry in the first place,” the lawsuit said. “That is an absurd proposition and a hurdle that Florida simply cannot bear.”

But the motion to dismiss the case disputed such arguments, saying the Supreme Court in the Bruen case “held that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry firearms in public for self-defense, ‘subject to certain reasonable, well-defined restrictions.’”

“Bruen expressly approved of public carry licensing systems like Florida’s, which do not ‘prevent law-abiding, responsible citizens from exercising their Second Amendment right to public carry,’” the motion said. “Therefore, based on the Supreme Court’s previous ruling, it would follow that Florida’s current public carry licensing system and restrictions on open carry are constitutional and do not infringe on plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights.”

The lawsuit, filed in South Florida, named as defendants St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson Bakkedahl and the 19th Judicial Circuit state attorney’s office, which prosecutes cases in St. Lucie, Indian River, Martin and Okeechobee counties. It cited the enforcement of the open-carry ban by Pearson and Bakkedahl.

The Florida Supreme Court in 2017 upheld the open-carry ban in a case stemming from the arrest of a man in St. Lucie County. Justices, in a 4-2 ruling, said the law “regulates only one manner of bearing arms and does not impair the exercise of the fundamental right to bear arms.”

The new lawsuit contends that the 2017 decision was wrong based on U.S. Supreme Court precedents.

But in last week’s motion to dismiss the case, attorneys for Bakkedahl and his office said other cases about the law are pending in Florida appellate courts, including a Pensacola case that is scheduled for arguments Oct. 16 in the state’s 1st District Court of Appeal.

The motion said the issue should play out in state courts, not the federal court.

“In effect, plaintiff wants this federal court to unnecessarily stand in the shoes of the state court and substitute its judgment in lieu of the better-positioned state court,” the motion said. “This could only encourage unnecessary friction” between Florida and federal courts.

The plaintiffs face an Oct. 1 deadline for responding to the motion. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez.

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It’s been less than two weeks since a Georgia school shooting that killed four and injured nine others—and six years since a shooting at Florida’s Parkland school shooting that killed 17 people.

Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, a Democratic lawmaker from Broward County, was the Mayor of Parkland in 2018 and joined The Skinny to talk about the state of Florida school safety in 2024.

Hunschofsky, discussed the effects of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act and what she’s telling parents in the wake of another shooting.

On the second half of the show, Thomas Feiter—an Orlando attorney who lost in last month’s Republican primary for state attorney in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit—discussed his lawsuit claiming that the DeSantis administration interfered in the race.

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TALLAHASSEE — Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office this week argued that a judge should allow Florida to continue challenging a new federal rule that requires more gun sellers to be licensed and run background checks on buyers, contending the rule causes a financial hit to the state.

Lawyers in Moody’s office filed a 16-page response Monday after the Biden administration last month urged Tampa-based U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell to dismiss the state’s lawsuit. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys say Florida doesn’t have legal standing to challenge the rule.

But in the response, Moody’s office tried to show standing by arguing that the rule would affect sales-tax revenues because of a decrease in purchases of admission tickets to gun shows.

“Florida’s theory is based on a 6 percent sales tax that the state collects on admission to gun shows,” the response said. “It is not speculative or remote to expect a loss in revenue from the challenged rule because the entire point of the challenged rule is to prevent unlicensed gun sales at gun shows, which were previously treated as lawful. The federal government has characterized gun shows as a ‘critical gap in the background check laws’ that the challenged rule seeks to fill.”

The rule, which the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finalized in April, is an outgrowth of a 2022 federal law, known as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, that made changes to the longstanding background-check system.

In part, the rule changed the definition of being “engaged in the business” as a firearms dealer who needs to be licensed, according to court documents filed by Justice Department attorneys. The revised definition applies to a “person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms. The term shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of the person’s personal collection of firearms.”

Florida’s lawsuit contends that the rule violates a federal law known as the Administrative Procedure Act. But to move forward with the case, the state needs to establish standing — essentially that it is being harmed by the rule — and has focused heavily on the possibility of losing tax revenues from gun shows.

In last month’s motion to dismiss the case, Justice Department attorneys argued the state did not “provide a basis for inferring a causal link between the rule and the myriad decisions about whether to attend certain gun shows made by individuals whose conduct in no way implicates the rule.”

“Indeed, there are plenty of reasons why Floridians might elect not to attend a particular gun show — e.g., a general increase in firearms prices, changes in purchasing preferences, poor advertising or show management, bad weather, et cetera,” the motion said. “And Florida’s complaint wholly fails to plausibly establish that the rule was instead the cause of the … decline in gun show attendance that the state alleges.”

Florida also has sought to establish standing by arguing that the rule would require the state to increase resources for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct background checks. While many states rely on the FBI to conduct background checks, Florida uses the state law enforcement agency.

In the motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Justice Department attorneys described as “self-inflicted harm” any need for the state to increase resources. The motion said, “Any harms Florida suffers from conducting background checks result from its voluntary decision to perform services that the federal government is otherwise willing to perform (and does perform for the majority of states) for free.”

Moody’s office, however, pushed back against those arguments in this week’s response.

“That a state has duly enacted plans and policies does not render all injuries interfering with those plans voluntary,” the response said. “To be sure, in some cases, a state’s claimed injuries may be self-inflicted. … Here, by contrast, Florida’s injury is that it must do more background checks and expend more resources as a direct result of ATF’s (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) unlawful rule. It does not claim injury based purely on its decision to conduct background checks but based on defendants’ unlawful decision to increase the burden of doing so.”

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TALLAHASSEE — Saying the restriction is “fully consistent” with “historical tradition,” lawyers for Florida are urging an Atlanta-based appeals court to uphold a law preventing people under age 21 from purchasing rifles and other long guns.

The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit challenging the age restriction shortly after then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature rushed to include it in a sweeping school safety bill that passed after the February 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time, used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 17 students and faculty members at the school. Federal law already prohibited people under age 21 from buying handguns.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker upheld the age restriction, and a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. But the NRA asked the full appeals court to consider the case. The court last year put the appeal on hold and directed attorneys for the state and the NRA to delay filing briefs until after the Supreme Court issued a decision in a Texas gun case known as United States v. Rahimi.

The Supreme Court’s 8-1 decision in June in the Texas case backed a ban on gun possession by people under domestic violence restraining orders and was a victory for the federal government and gun-control supporters.

Florida’s lawyers, in a brief filed Friday, said the Supreme Court held courts must “examine our ‘historical tradition of firearm regulation,’” referring to a major decision in an earlier case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

Quoting from the Rahimi decision, the state’s brief said that previous court rulings about gun rights “were not meant to suggest a law trapped in amber,” because the Second Amendment “permits more than just those regulations identical to ones that could be found in 1791.”

The Florida law prevented the purchase of long guns by people under 21 but allowed them to use or possess them, which is “fully consistent” with the nation’s history, lawyers for Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office wrote in the brief. For example, a person under 21 could receive a gun as a gift from a relative.

“Florida’s law restricting the purchase, but not possession or use, of firearms by those under 21 is consistent with the principles that underpin our regulatory tradition. At the (nation’s) founding, individuals under 21 were considered lacking in the requisite judgment and reason to enter into contracts, which at the time were necessary to purchase firearms because such goods were bought on credit in early America’s agrarian economy. States recognized this common-law limitation when enacting their militia laws,” the brief said.

The Florida law “fits neatly within” the nation’s “historical tradition,” the state’s lawyers argued.

“The purpose of Florida’s law is the same as those historical restrictions — preventing those who the founders considered to lack capacity from purchasing firearms, while allowing parents to facilitate their possession and use,” the brief said.

In a brief filed July 31, lawyers for the NRA argued that the Rahimi decision was “narrow” and that the full appellate court should strike down the Florida law.

The Florida law does not align with the 2022 Supreme Court ruling in the Bruen case, the NRA’s lawyers argued.

“This law is unconstitutional. The Second Amendment’s text protects young adults’ right to purchase a firearm, and the state has not proven that the ban is consistent with our nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. The young adult ban cannot stand,” John Parker Sweeney, an attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP firm, wrote.

The “plain text” of the Second Amendment also protects young adults’ right to purchase firearms, he contended.

“The right to keep and bear arms necessarily protects the ability to acquire them, and purchase is the most common, most important, and often only available method of acquisition. Any law that hinders the exercise of Second Amendment rights, as the young adult ban does here, triggers the state’s burden to affirmatively prove a historical tradition,” the NRA brief said.

But the state repeatedly contended in Friday’s brief that history supports the Florida law.

“Taken together, the historical record demonstrates that the common law curtailed minors’ ability to purchase firearms, and the founders expressed no concern about that limitation,” Moody’s lawyers argued.

States began passing restrictions on ages to purchase guns in 1855, as guns became more powerful and more readily accessible, the state’s brief said.

The NRA’s lawsuit has drawn national attention, with friend-of-the-court briefs filed by groups advocating for stricter gun laws and states that have enacted age-based restrictions.

Also on Friday, lawyers for the Biden administration filed a brief arguing that the Supreme Court’s decision in the Rahimi case also supports the federal law barring people under age 21 from purchasing handguns.

“Federal age-based restrictions on the commercial sale of handguns comport with the Second Amendment,” U.S. Department of Justice lawyers wrote.

At the nation’s founding, state legislatures set age qualifications “for an array of important activities,” such as marriage, becoming a naturalized citizen, serving on juries and entering into enforceable contracts, the federal government’s brief said.

“These historical age restrictions reflect the framers’ view that reason and judgment are not fully developed before age 21,” the Biden administration’s lawyers wrote.

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TALLAHASSEE — The Biden administration this week urged a U.S. district judge to toss out a Florida lawsuit challenging a new federal rule that requires more gun sellers to be licensed and run background checks on buyers, disputing state arguments about lost tax revenue from gun shows.

U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed a 27-page motion Monday seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, which Florida filed in May and revised this month. The rule, which the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finalized in April, is an outgrowth of a 2022 federal law, known as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, that made changes to the longstanding background-check system.

Florida contends that the rule violates another federal law, the Administrative Procedure Act. In the revised lawsuit, the state argued, in part, that the rule has led to lower attendance at gun shows — resulting in reduced tax revenue from purchases of admission tickets.

But the Justice Department attorneys blasted the argument in this week’s motion to dismiss, saying the state did not “provide a basis for inferring a causal link between the rule and the myriad decisions about whether to attend certain gun shows made by individuals whose conduct in no way implicates the rule.”

But the revised lawsuit, filed Aug. 12 by Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office, said the state’s “asserted injury — lost tax revenue — is clear and ongoing.”

“Ordinarily, gun shows in Florida during the summer months of June, July and August enjoy high attendance rates — often hosting thousands of people at a single show,” the lawsuit said. “But since the challenged rule went into effect on May 20, attendance at these summer gun shows across the state has decreased precipitously. In some parts of Florida, total attendance at such shows have dropped by as much as 50 percent, costing the state revenue from the 6 percent sales tax it would have earned on each admission ticket.”

The gun-show issue is important, at least in part, because Florida is trying to use lost tax revenue to establish legal standing in the case. Essentially, Florida contends the rule is causing it to suffer damages. Standing is an initial hurdle that plaintiffs must clear, and the Justice Department argues the lawsuit should be dismissed because Florida doesn’t have standing to challenge the rule

When the rule was finalized, the Biden administration said the changes were designed to close “loopholes” in the system that requires licensed gun dealers to run background checks. An overview posted on the White House website said “a growing number of unlicensed sellers continue to sell firearms for profit to complete strangers they meet at gun shows and online marketplaces, which has been a critical gap in the background check laws.”

In part, the rule changed a definition of being “engaged in the business” as a firearms dealer who needs to be licensed, according to court documents filed by Justice Department attorneys. The revised definition applies to a “person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms. The term shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of the person’s personal collection of firearms.”

Justice Department attorneys argued in this week’s motion that the definition closely tracks the 2022 law. But in alleging violations of the federal Administrative Procedure Act, the state contended that the “Biden Administration now seeks to exploit the minor changes to federal law enacted in the BSCA (Bipartisan Safer Communities Act) to implement President Biden’s preferred policies by executive fiat.”

While a majority of states rely on the FBI to conduct background checks, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement handles checks in Florida. In the lawsuit, the state argued that the rule would force the FDLE to conduct more background checks, requiring more resources.

But in the motion to dismiss, Justice Department attorneys called that a “self-inflicted harm.” It said “any harms Florida suffers from conducting background checks result from its voluntary decision to perform services that the federal government is otherwise willing to perform (and does perform for the majority of states) for free.”

The lawsuit, filed in Tampa, is assigned to U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell.

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Listen: John Morgan criticizes Florida’s response to high insurance pricesJohn Morgan, the founder of Morgan & Morgan. Speaks out of the property insurance crisis in Florida.

You can hear the whole interview on our website

An appeals court will decide if Hillsborough voters can decide on a tax for schools An appeals court will be deciding soon if a tax referendum to pay for school teachers will appear on the November ballot.

University faculty unions in Florida challenge a Florida law that prevents arbitration of personnel disputesUniversity faculty unions are challenging a 2023 state law preventing arbitration for personnel disputes. The Federal Arbitration Act preempts the state block on arbitration.

Gun rights groups have filed a lawsuit challenging Florida’s ban on open-carryGun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation & gun owner Richard Hughes have filed a lawsuit against a ban on open-carry weapons. This comes a year after Governor Ron DeSantis passed a law eliminating the need for a license to carry.

Today is the deadline to request a Vote By Mail ballotYou have until 5 PM today to request a Vote By Mail ballot for the primary election on Aug 20th.

Certified nursing assistants picket outside of long-term care facilitiesnursing assistants will be picketing outside of care facilities across Florida. They are calling for higher wages and increased staffing.

Listen:The Scoop: Tampa Bay & Florida headlines by WMNFThe Scoop producer Sage Roberts

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TALLAHASSEE — Second Amendment groups and a Palm Beach County gun owner Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Florida law that bars people from openly carrying firearms.

Gun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation and gun owner Richard Hughes filed the lawsuit in South Florida and contended that the open-carry ban does not meet a legal test that such restrictions must be consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition” of firearms regulation.

“Despite its reputation as a largely gun-friendly state, Florida inexplicably continues to prohibit the peaceable carrying of firearms in an open and unconcealed manner,” the lawsuit said. “The blatant infringement of the Second Amendment right to ‘bear arms’ runs counter to this nation’s historical tradition and would have criminalized the very colonists who openly carried their muskets and mustered on the greens at Lexington and Concord to fight for their independence.”

The lawsuit comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature last year eliminated a longstanding requirement that people obtain state concealed-weapons licenses to be able to carry guns. But lawmakers did not allow people to openly carry firearms, drawing criticism from some Second Amendment activists who said the changes did not go far enough.

The lawsuit, which was first reported Monday by Fox News, names as defendants St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson and Thomas Bakkedahl, the state attorney in the 19th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of St. Lucie, Indian River, Martin and Okeechobee counties.

It cites the enforcement of the open-carry ban by Pearson and Bakkedahl, though it does not make clear why they are defendants and other law-enforcement officials are not.

The Florida Supreme Court in 2017, however, upheld the open-carry ban in a case stemming from the arrest of a man in St. Lucie County. Justices, in a 4-2 ruling, said the state law “regulates only one manner of bearing arms and does not impair the exercise of the fundamental right to bear arms.”

The new lawsuit contends that the 2017 decision was wrong based on U.S. Supreme Court precedents.

While Hughes lives in Palm Beach County, the lawsuit said he sometimes goes to St. Lucie County and would like to openly carry a gun while there. For example, it said he goes to a St. Lucie County nature preserve at least once a month with his dogs and attends a Port St. Lucie gun show.

The lawsuit relies heavily on a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 2008. That includes a 2022 decision in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that focused on the “historical tradition” of firearms regulation.

The lawsuit acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court has not decided an open-carry case, but it said the court’s “decisions nevertheless guide and control the inquiry here and demonstrate that the challenged statute is unconstitutional.”

The National Rifle Association is making similar “historical tradition” arguments as it challenges a 2018 Florida law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and other long guns. A federal district judge upheld the law, but the NRA is challenging the ruling at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott approved the age restriction after the February 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people.

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VP Kamala Harris has her first campaign stop today in MilwaukeeOver the next few months, Kamala Harris will travel across the country to talk to Americans about everything on the line this election.

Florida Democrats throw support behind Harris as presidential nomineeWMNF’s Chris Young reports as of yesterday, 236 Florida delegates and counting have pledged support to the Vice President.

Local organization spreads awareness of gun violenceD’Andra Todd founded the Sean’s Love Project after her son became a victim of gun violence. Todd and other groups, held a community event to highlight the importance of gun violence prevention and victim support networks.

Anna Paulina Luna calls for charges against Secret Service Director U-S Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faced intense questions yesterday about the assassination attempt on Trump. WMNF’s Chris Young reports that one congresswoman is calling for charges.

The pace of COVID-19 deaths in Florida is lower than in the last four yearsFlorida Department of Health data shows more than 3,000 deaths in the state have been linked to COVID-19. This year’s pace of death is lower than during the past four.

The Scoop: Tampa Bay & Florida headlines by WMNFThe Scoop producer Leah Burdick

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Listen:Candidates for four Tampa district state house seats debated at a political forum in Ybor City Friday.

For the most part, candidates stayed on their expected party lines while discussing issues like gun control, abortion, and local ordinances.

Candidates from Distrcts 63, 64, 65, and 67 gathered at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club.

Dianne Hart is the incumbent state house representative for District 63, which covers parts of Sulphur Springs, Temple Terrace and Ybor City.

“There have been shootings every single week in District 63. I believe we start with returning the age to 21 years old for gun ownership, first of all. We must do that.”

She’s running against Republican Tim Driver.

Many candidates voiced their support for social services.

In District 65 – which covers parts of South Tampa and the Westchase area – Democrat Ashley Brundage is running against Democrat Nathan Kuipers and Republican Karen Gonzales Pittman.

Brundage says working across party lines to support community organizations while in office is vital.

“I was homeless, for a year and a half, living right here in Tampa, and I was able to acquire community resources, but not because they were advertised, not because someone told me about them. I had to go and find them.”

Democrats voiced concern over the Republican supermajority in the state legislature, saying it makes it more difficult to get laws passed.

The Hillsborough County Commission blocked a millage tax to raise teacher pay from this year’s ballots on Wednesday.

The referendum would have increased property taxes, with funds going to schools.

Rico Smith is a Republican running for house District 67 – which covers parts of Thonotosassa and Pebble Creek.

“Right now we are facing record high inflation, cost of living. The last thing we should be doing right now, is looking at increasing millage rates”

Smith is running against Republican Lisette Bonano and Democratic incumbent Fentrice Driskell.

Democrat Incumbent Susan Valdes is running for District 64 – which covers parts of Town n’ Country.

She’s running against Republican Maura Cruz Lanz.

Lanz criticized the four commissioners who voted down the millage appearing on the ballot this year.

“The Republicans will say, ‘let the people decide.’ Well, here we come back home, and the same very four republicans, who are in the same mindset, dont want the people to decide.”

Hillsborough County Superintendent Van Ayres says he plans to take legal action against the commission over the vote.

The General Election is Tuesday, November 5th.

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St. Pete City Council raises concerns in Rays deal over forgotten burial groundWMNF’s Chris Young reports about the concerns over a forgotten burial ground under the proposed development of the new stadium.

Florida lawmakers speak out against Trump’s attack on SaturdayBoth Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Florida speak out about the scary incident and what needs to be done moving forward security-wise.

The Scoop: Tampa Bay & Florida headlines by WMNFThe Scoop producer Leah Burdick

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TALLAHASSEE — After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month in a closely watched Second Amendment case, lawyers are tangling over how the decision should apply to federal prohibitions on medical marijuana patients buying and possessing guns.

Lawyers for Florida medical marijuana patients and the Biden administration filed briefs last week at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that staked opposing positions on what the Supreme Court ruling means for medical marijuana users.

In the ruling, in a case known as United States v. Rahimi, the Supreme Court upheld a ban on gun possession by people under domestic violence restraining orders.

But in a brief filed Friday, Will Hall, a Tallahassee attorney for the Florida medical marijuana patients, tried to draw contrasts between Rahimi and pot users.

Hall wrote that “there is no historical tradition or principle of disarming persons like the appellants (the medical marijuana patients) who have not committed serious or violent crimes and who have not shown themselves to be a threat to the safety of others.”

U.S. Department of Justice attorneys, however, pointed to marijuana remaining illegal under federal law and said the Rahimi decision supports a conclusion that preventing gun possession by people who illegally use drugs “comports with the Second Amendment.”

“History shows that legislatures hold authority to disarm categories of persons whose possession of firearms would endanger themselves or others. Rahimi itself recognized that ‘(s)ince the founding, our nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms,’” the Justice Department brief said. “The limited restriction at issue here, which applies only to individuals engaged in the regular and ongoing use of illegal drugs, ‘fits comfortably’ within that tradition and the principles underpinning it.”

Then-Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and medical marijuana patients filed the lawsuit in 2022 challenging the prohibitions. While marijuana is illegal under federal law, Florida voters in 2016 passed a constitutional amendment to allow patients to use marijuana for medical conditions.

The lawsuit said the federal prohibitions “forbid Floridians from possessing or purchasing a firearm on the sole basis that they are state-law-abiding medical marijuana patients.”

But U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor dismissed the case in November 2022, spurring the plaintiffs to go to the Atlanta-based appeals court. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who was elected in 2022 to succeed Fried, dropped out of the case, but it has continued with the patients as plaintiffs.

A panel of the appeals court heard arguments in October 2023 but put the case on hold while the Supreme Court considered the Rahimi case.

The plaintiffs want the appeals court to reverse the dismissal of the case and send it back to the district court.

Hall wrote that the medical marijuana patients seek “only narrow, common-sense relief. Any risk of firearm misuse they pose can be mitigated by prohibiting the possession of a firearm while they are under the influence of marijuana. Instead, the challenged laws and regulations disarm the appellants at all times (including in their own homes) on the basis that they have ingested marijuana in recent days or weeks.”

Meanwhile, as the Rahimi case was pending, the appeals court also put on hold a separate case challenging a Florida law that prevents people under age 21 from buying rifles and shotguns. Lawyers in that case also will file briefs in the coming weeks, according to an online docket.

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DeSantis appoints Christine Miller to Hillsborough CommissionRon DeSantis appointed Christine Miller to the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners to replace Michael Owen who recently resigned to run for State House.

Suzy Lopez expands Hillsborough’s gun violence unitWMNF’s Chris Young reports Suzy Lopez is putting a renewed focus on an issue the U.S. Surgeon General is calling a “Public health crisis” after a noticeable increase in gun violence in Tampa.

Hillsborough teachers and school district agree to new termsTeachers and the school district are anticipating a tax referendum on the November ballot that could generate more money for employee pay.

Anna Paulina Luna is trying to detain Merrick GarlandAnna Paulina Luna says Attorney General Merrick Garland should be held in contempt. Earlier this year, the House committee subpoenaed Garand for an audio recording of Special Counsel Rober Hur’s interview with President Biden.

Polk County prescribed burnThere will be a 25-acre prescribed burn today within the Polk County Environmental Lands Gator Creek conservation area in northwest Polk.

DeSantis vetoes four billsThe four bills vetoed involved public records, cybersecurity liability, professional license requirements for barbers and cosmetologists, and requiring the Florida Department of Health to take steps in swimming restrictions if water quality does not meet standards.

The Scoop: Tampa Bay & Florida headlines by WMNFThe Scoop producer Leah Burdick

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While violent crime is down nationally, a recent spate of fatal shootings in Tampa has people on edge and wondering what can be done. Fatal shootings in neighborhoods like Hyde Park and New Tampa, where such crime is rare, have added fuel to the fire.

Brucie Klay Boonstoppel, whose son Harrison was shot dead from the cross fire of rival teens in Ybor City last year, is sounding the alarm about the city’s rise in gun crime. She and Harrison’s twin sister, Ava, discussed gun violence and its impact on WMNF WaveMakers with Janet & Tom on Tuesday (June 25).

Harrison, 20, went to Ybor City Oct. 29 for Halloween. He and two friends were there just 10 minutes when shots were fired and Harrison was randomly killed while walking on the sidewalk. His friends were uninjured. A 14-year-old, who fired one of the guns, was killed and 16 others were injured.

The gun used to kill Harrison had been stolen, police said.

A recent study by Everytown for Gun Safety found that the source of most stolen guns is private cars and that the number of guns stolen from cars has tripled in the past decade and most of the time those cars are unlocked in private driveways. Melissa Ransdell with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America discussed the findings during WaveMakers.

Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez told WaveMakers that in a six-month period in 2023 in unincorporated Hillsborough County 143 guns were reported stolen and 87 percent of them were from unlocked cars. “Only two were stolen where the car window was broken,” she said. “That’s where guns are getting in the hands of young people.”

While there’s no law in Florida against leaving a gun in an unlocked car, common sense should tell you that’s not safe, Lopez said. “We’re getting the word out,” Lopez said. “If you have to store your gun in your car….have it locked,” she said. Better yet, she suggested, take it in the house and don’t leave it in a parked car at all.

Lopez announced Monday that she has expanded her Gun Violence Unit which was started 15 years ago. She has five prosecutors now exclusively handling gun crime cases. “We have attorneys who are very specifically and specially trained to handle these cases,” she said. “If a shooting occurs in the middle of the night our prosecutors are getting a call…really just moments after a trigger is pulled….It will help us prosecute these cases.”

While gun crime “ebbs and flows like every crime,” Lopez said, “we’re seeing guns in the hands in the people who should not have guns–felons, young people….We’re trying to shine a light on teens with guns.

Boonstoppel and her husband have channeled their grief into action, starting a memorial fund in Harrison’s name through the Community Foundation Tampa Bay and planning a foundation focused on educating youths about gun the danger of guns. You can follow their efforts by searching for #LLHBoon or on Instagram at Remembering_HarrisonBoon and on Facebook at Remembering Harrison Boonstoppel

Hear the entire conversation by clicking the link below, going to the WaveMakers archives or by searching for WMNF WaveMakers wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Manatee Memorial Hospital cuts funding for uninsured and low-income surgical patientsWe Care Manatee is a nonprofit organization that connects patients with financial needs to healthcare providers. The hospital recently cut ties with Good County on June 1 which was another organization that helped those who needed surgery.

St.Petersburg Police Department cracks down after teens fire pellet gunsHundreds of teens gathered downtown Saturday night and some were firing gel pellet guns. WMNF’s Chris Young reports the Police department’s response to cracking down on similar behaviors.

One Tampa organization is helping kids get back-to-school immunizationsWMNF’s Colleen Cole reports about a group providing uninsured children with free shots before the upcoming school year.

DeSantis directs over $ 7 million to rebuild shrimp dock damaged from Hurricane IanThe $7 million will go towards expanding the San Carlos Maritime Park facility to serve as an emergency location and a distribution site for shrimp boats.

Tampa Bay students win AAA School Saftey Patroller of the Year for FloridaTriple A recognized a 5th grader at the Florida School Safety Patroller of the Year. Sophia Cuviello is one of thousands of 5th graders participating in the program.

The Scoop: Tampa Bay & Florida headlines by WMNFThe Scoop producer Leah Burdick

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The Tampa Police Department is doing an expansion of its project called the “Locked and Unloaded Program.”

They are offering free gunlocks that can be picked up at any district office or police headquarters.

You can also pick up a free gun lock at these four library locations:

Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library
North Tampa Branch Library
New Tampa Regional Library
Robert W. Saunders, SR. Public Library

Over 200 guns were stolen out of unlocked cars just last year. Chief Bercaw said, Project Locked and Unloaded was created to raise awareness to “secure your weapon and lock your doors.”

According to the Tampa Police Department’s website, the project is “deterring crime by keeping guns from falling into the wrong hands.”

Visit the Tampa Police website for more information on gun locks.

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The fight against threats to democracy still rests with the People

News updates from the situation in Haiti and the Middle East.

Discussion on threats from right-wing politicians. The dark money donors behind GOP Project 2025, a plan to dismantle the federal government.

The electorate will determine the path forward.

Listen in archives.

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Two controversial gun-related bills are positioned to go to the full Florida House, though the Senate has not considered them.

The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 15-6 to approve a bill (HB 1223) that would lower the minimum age to buy rifles and other types of long guns from 21 to 18.

The bill would reverse part of the law that increased the minimum age to 21 after the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Bill sponsor Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, said the Legislature since 2018 has taken strong steps to improve school safety and that the age restriction might violate federal constitutional rights.

“We’ve improved the opportunity for more mental health counseling (in schools),” Payne said. “With that, the state of Florida should match up with 43 other states that allow the purchase of a long gun in their state at the age of 18 and still restrict it at 21 for a handgun.”

Federal law bars sales of handguns to people under 21.

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, has called the bill a “non-starter” in the Senate.

The House Judiciary Committee also voted 13-7 to approve a bill (HB 17) that would seek to prevent a waiting period for background checks on gun purchases from taking longer than three days.

Rep. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee, raised concerns about what would happen if the Florida Department of Law Enforcement doesn’t complete background checks within three days and people take possession of guns.

“What concerns me about this bill is what happens when someone gets the firearm and the background check hasn’t come back. And then they find out they shouldn’t have a firearm,” she said. “Does that mean police or sheriff or law enforcement now go and they have to retrieve that firearm?”

A Senate version (SB 1124) of the bill has not been heard in committees.

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Listen:A bill that would lower the minimum age from 21 to 18 to purchase rifles and shotguns in Florida was approved Tuesday by a state House panel, but the bill has no Senate counterpart.

The bill rolls back a law created after the Parkland shooting that raised the minimum age. Republican Representative Bobby Payne is a sponsor of the current bill, despite voting for the law in 2018.

“All those interventions, all that time, this six or seven years, it made me realize that we’ve done the right thing in the state and we should join the majority of the rest of the states to bring the availability to purchase a long gun back to 18 years old.”

Tony Montalto is the father of Gina, a student killed in the Parkland shooting. He spoke during public comment.

“We’re just two weeks away from the sixth commemoration. Our current law is working. I implore each of you to remember that law is written in the blood of the Parkland victims, including my beautiful daughter Gina.”

However, while speaking against the bill, St. Petersburg Democratic Representative Michele Rayner brought up that the bill has no Senate companion.

“From my understanding, I don’t know if the bill is moving over in the Senate, so why is it here?”

Payne addressed this during closing comments.

“I don’t make my decisions on what bills I would want run based on what the Senate might be doing. I make those decisions based on what I feel is part of my fundamental belief.”

The bill advanced in the House Criminal Justice Committee. It will next be heard in the Judiciary Committee.

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Listen:This week is National Gun Violence Survivors Week. Elected officials met with loved ones of victims of gun violence to discuss Florida’s increasingly weak gun laws.

Jonny Johnson started the non-profit Rise Up for Peace. He lost his 17-year-old son to gun violence seven years ago.

“Every aspect of our lives has been contaminated by the senseless gun violence, whether it’s at school, going to a place of worship, or just going to a grocery story to pick up a bite to eat.”

Johnson joined Karel Boonstoppel, who also lost his son to gun violence during a shooting in Ybor City last year. They spoke with Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell and Congress member Kathy Castor on gun control efforts in government.

Castor voted for Biden’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which provided millions in funding to curb gun violence.

“It provided substantial new resources to states and communities for risk protection, orders for drug courts, for crisis intervention – but here’s the kicker: Governor DeSantis did not draw down those dollars.”

She saw that as a negative.

“He now has built a record on making our lives less safe and making our state more dangerous.”

On the state level, Driskell gave an update on state Democrats’ progress.

“Unfortunately, none of our common sense gun ownership bills or common sense gun reform bills have received a hearing, even though we have been very thoughtful in crafting this legislation and making sure we are approaching this in a bipartisan and common sense way.”

Last year, Governor DeSantis signed a law allowing Floridians to carry a concealed weapon without a government permit.

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TALLAHASSEE — A House Republican on Thursday renewed an attempt to lower the minimum age from 21 to 18 for people to buy rifles and other long guns in Florida, potentially reversing part of a law that passed in the aftermath of the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Rep. Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, filed the proposal (HB 1223) for consideration during the 2024 legislative session, which will start Tuesday. The House passed a virtually identical bill during the 2023 session, but the Senate did not take up the issue.

The Legislature and then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2018 approved a law that included increasing the minimum age to 21 after Nikolas Cruz, then 19, killed 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Cruz, who has been sentenced to life in prison in the murders, used a semi-automatic rifle to carry out the attack.

Federal law already prevented people under 21 from buying handguns.

The state law drew a legal challenge from the National Rifle Association, which contends that it violates Second Amendment rights. A federal district judge upheld the age restriction, but the case remains pending at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The attempt during the 2023 session to reverse the law was backed by House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast. In a March statement, Renner described the proposal as the House “restoring the ability of young adults to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

Before the House voted 69-36 to pass the bill in April, Payne said it “corrects the wrong we did in 2018.” He argued that the measure would leave intact other parts of the 2018 law that addressed mental health and school safety.

“You see the gun as the problem,” Payne said during a debate. “I see the interventions and the policies as the answer.”

But Democrats, such as Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, who was Parkland mayor at the time of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, opposed lowering the minimum wage. During a debate, Hunschofsky called the 2018 law a national “gold standard” for school safety.

“This law has stood the test of time because we have not had another school shooting in the state of Florida, and I hope to God we never do so that children will no longer hide, hit the ground, when a balloon pops. … We are going down the wrong path here,” she said.

The Senate did not take up the bill after President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said she did not support it. A Senate version of Payne’s 2024 bill had not been filed as of early Thursday afternoon.

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TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court has declined to take up a challenge to the constitutionality of a state law that bars the possession of guns by convicted felons.

Justices on Monday issued an order rejecting an appeal by William Edenfield, who was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after a 2020 shooting incident in Leon County. Edenfield went to the Supreme Court in August after the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected his Second Amendment arguments.

Edenfield’s challenge centered on a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court required evaluating gun restrictions by whether they are consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

In an August brief filed at the Florida Supreme Court, Edenfield’s attorney, Tyler Kemper Payne, wrote that the 1st District Court of Appeal interpreted the Bruen decision to “read into the Second Amendment a limitation to only ‘law-abiding responsible citizens.’ Such a qualification is found nowhere in the Second Amendment’s controlling text. The district court cited almost no historical evidence in support of this limitation.”

“In short, the district court expressly construed the Second Amendment, a provision of the federal Constitution, by limiting its scope and finding the prohibition at issue historically supported,” Payne, an assistant public defender in the 2nd Judicial Circuit, wrote. “Petitioner (Edenfield) asks this (Florida Supreme) Court to accept jurisdiction to resolve whether Florida’s prohibition on felons from possessing firearms remains constitutional in the wake of Bruen.”

But in a brief filed in October, lawyers in Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court has “been clear that longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons do not infringe the Second Amendment.”

“Petitioner (Edenfield) cites no case in which a court has held that a felon-dispossession law is facially unconstitutional under the Second Amendment,” the state’s lawyers wrote. “On the contrary, the courts overwhelmingly have upheld the validity of felon-dispossession laws even after Bruen.”

As is common, the Florida Supreme Court on Monday did not explain its reasons for declining to take up the challenge.

But in a May 31 decision, a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal said a “review of the pertinent precedent from the United States Supreme Court on the Second Amendment shows that a felon, such as appellant (Edenfield), still cannot claim an unfettered constitutional right to possess a firearm post Bruen.”

The state’s brief filed at the Supreme Court said a jury convicted Edenfield of two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the 2020 incident.

Edenfield, now 67, had previous convictions on theft and burglary charges, according to the Florida Department of Corrections website. He is an inmate at Blackwater Correctional Facility.

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Mother of gun violence victimThe funeral for 20-year-old Harrison Boonstoppel will take place tonight. 14 yr. old Elijah Wilson also died in the gunfire on Oct. 29th. In response to the shooting, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor blamed lax gun laws and Harrison’s mother agreed. You can hear this full interview on our website, wmnf.org.

Teacher fired for gender-neutral titleA Florida Virtual School physics teacher was fired last month for using a gender-neutral title in class. The school said the title violated a section of a Florida law signed in May, an expansion to what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Florida Supreme Court ponders marijuana amendmentThe Florida Supreme Court heard arguments yesterdayover a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the recreational use of marijuana in the state. Upwards of 1 million Florida voters have signed petitions supporting the amendment. If the state Supreme Court signs off on the ballot, it will appear on the 2024 ballot, needing 60% voter approval to become law.

Information from the Florida Public Media, News Service of Florida, and Associated Press was used in this report.

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MidPoint Wednesday hosted Brucie Klay Boonstoppel, whose 20-year-old son, a bystander, was tragically shot and killed last weekend in Ybor City, and Trish Trezzas, a volunteer with gun violence survivor network Everytown, whose son was also killed, another victim of gun violence. They joined Gail Powell-Cope, the local Lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense on MidPoint to discuss gun violence and what we can hope to do about it to prevent future tragedies.

Listen to the show here:

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The Florida Governor grew flustered after being asked about the rise in gun violence in the state. The show deals with the political implications behind inaction on controlling guns. Callers offer solutions such as mandating guns be registered and insured by owners like automobiles.

note: There have been 565 mass shootings across the United States thus far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as having four or more victims.

Also, related to public health, COVID cases are rising in Florida but the surgeon-general calls vaccines “anti-human”. Meanwhile, a former state representative, Joe Harding, will serve 4 months in prison for stealing pandemic relief funds.

Florida Surgeon Gen. Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo before a bill signing by Gov. Ron DeSantis Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, in Brandon, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)The post Gun Violence In The USA appeared first on WMNF 88.5 FM.

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TALLAHASSEE — Amid mass shootings in Maine and Ybor City, Florida Democrats filed bills last week that seek to expand rules regarding the storage of firearms and discharging guns in residential areas.

The proposals bring to 16 the number of gun-related measures so far submitted for the 2024 legislative session that begins Jan. 9, but it’s unlikely the bills will gain traction.

Democrats, outstripped by Republicans in both the House and Senate, have filed all but three of the bills.

Two of the measures were filed following a mass shooting on Wednesday in Lewiston, Maine, where 18 people were killed and 13 other people were injured by a National Guard reservist who later took his own life, according to law enforcement officials.

One of the bills filed by Democrats last week (SB 270) would make it a crime to recreationally fire a gun in an area that has a residential density of 1.25 or more acres per dwelling unit and the bullets don’t remain within the boundaries of the property.

The other proposal (HB 291) is a far-reaching measure that, in part, would require gun owners to keep firearms in a “securely locked box” when not carrying them, in an effort to ensure a prohibited user such as a child doesn’t gain access to the weapons.

Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell said that events like the mass shooting in rural Maine should not be accepted as normal.

“We need to address this issue head-on and advocate for common-sense gun safety legislation that can help save lives,” Driskell, D-Tampa, said in a statement Friday. “It’s time for our leaders to come together, across party lines, and prioritize the safety and well-being of our communities. We owe it to the victims and their families to do everything in our power to prevent future acts of gun violence.”

Democrats’ latest round of gun-related proposals come after Republicans earlier this year advanced a bill that allows Floridians to carry guns without the need for a concealed weapons license. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law in April.

DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination in the 2024 race for president, has addressed the gun issue in recent days as he made the rounds on national news programs as part of his campaign.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” show on Sunday, DeSantis again took aim at “red-flag” laws such as a provision included in a sweeping 2018 Florida school safety measure passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott following a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County. The red-flag system allows law-enforcement officials to confiscate firearms from individuals deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.

“I don’t think you would even need a red flag if somebody has a mental, involuntary commitment and adjudication of that nature that usually would go into the system,” DeSantis said. “And that would be on a traditional background check. I mean, I believe in due process. So, I don’t believe in this idea (that) the government can just take someone’s property and then go through due process later.”

At the same time, DeSantis called for more facilities where people with mental health issues can be held.

“I would be more aggressive on some of those fringe people who clearly are demonstrating signs that they’re a major danger to society,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis noted that the Maine gunman had been detained due to mental health issues but was released after a psychiatric evaluation.

“I think this is an example where clearly this is a guy, very well trained, had a lot of skills and then went off his rocker,” DeSantis said. “There was an intervention. But it wasn’t enough. So, I’d like to know, why wasn’t more done? We’ve seen instances throughout the country where there have been a lot of signs where people have maybe been referred, but then they don’t go through with everything.”

Still, DeSantis acknowledged the odds are low that the Legislature will consider repealing the state’s red-flag law next year.

During an appearance on CNN Thursday, the governor said there isn’t an “appetite” by Republicans to overturn the 2018 measure.

DeSantis over the weekend also responded to a shooting early Sunday in Ybor City that left two dead and 18 injured. The governor announced that the state Department of Law Enforcement was “offering all available resources to local law enforcement to respond to this terrible situation.”

But Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, the city’s former police chief, defended security in the area and blamed the deaths on a “proliferation” of firearms.

“Lives lost and others forever changed. To what end?” Castor tweeted. “The Tampa Police Department had 50 officers deployed in the area at the time, so this is not a law enforcement issue. Bad decisions made in a split second and the proliferation of readily available guns are responsible for these almost daily incidents. We can affect one half of this equation.”

Among the gun-related bills backed by Republicans for the upcoming legislative session is a proposal by Rep. Joel Rudman, R- Navarre, that seeks to revise part of the 2018 school safety law, which established some of the state’s first gun-control restrictions in decades.

In addition to requiring improved school security, the 2018 law also raised the minimum age from 18 to 21 and imposed a three-day waiting period for the purchase of rifles and other long guns. The age and waiting period requirements already applied to buying handguns, but the National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit challenging the new law, alleging that the restrictions on rifles are unconstitutional. That federal lawsuit remains pending.

Rudman’s measure (HB 17), which thus far lacks a Senate companion, would cap the waiting period for background checks at three days, even if the screenings were still underway by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Prior to the recent spate of shootings, DeSantis also has voiced opposition to regulations restricting “bump stocks,” which are devices that make semi-automatic weapons mimic fully automatic firearms. A ban on bump stocks also was included in the 2018 law.

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Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson plans to ask lawmakers to lift a concealed weapons restriction on people in the repossession business.

“If you’re allowed to conceal carry, you should be able to exercise your constitutional right,” Simpson told members of the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday.

Simpson wants to change a law that, in part, prevents what are known as licensed recovery agents from carrying guns while on private property and in the course of repossession activities.

In April, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that allows Floridians to carry guns without concealed weapons licenses. The bill did away with a decades-old licensing process, which included requiring that people undergo firearms training and background screening to carry concealed weapons. People carrying concealed firearms must still have valid identification and “display such identification upon demand by a law enforcement officer.” Lawmakers will begin the 2024 session in January.

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https://wmnf.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The_Scoop_230831.mp3Idalia’s wakeAssessment and cleanup are continuing today in north Florida and across the Bay area following Hurricane Idalia. Hours after Idalia struck Florida’s Big Bend area yesterday, Governor Ron DeSantis suggested that residents would shoot people who were looting in the town of Steinhatchee, as he has after some previous emergencies.

Flooding, deaths, and outagesWater levels on the Steinhatchee River rose more than 9 feet in about two hours and a bridge leading into Steinhatchee was not passable. State Road 24 leading into Cedar Key in Levy County was also inaccessible yesterday afternoon. Over 150,000 Floridians are still without power. At least 3 weather-related deaths have been reported.

Linking gun access to hate crimeA gun safety group is making the link between easy access to guns in the U.S. and violent hate crimes. GIFFORDS research director Kelly Drane spoke with Sean Kinane this week on WMNF’s Tuesday Café about the link between violent hate crimes and America’s easy access to firearms.

Medicaid eligibility mandateThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent a letter to all 50 states and U.S. territories with a specific mandate: Identify and fix systemic problems for determining Medicaid eligibility, especially for children.

Students rally for gun lawsA crowd of about 600 students and gun safety advocates rallied last night for stricter state gun laws in North Carolina after a school shooting that left one faculty member dead and terrorized students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Students were urged to take their pain to the ballot box.

https://wmnf.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The_Scoop_230831.mp3Information from the Florida Public Media, News Service of Florida, and Associated Press was used in this report.

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Gun control activist David Hogg joins The Skinny on WMNF Tampa 88.5-FM today to discuss his new hybrid PAC, Leaders We Deserve, which hopes to get more candidates under 35 years old on into races for federal office and candidates under 30 years old old running for state offices. Also on the show today, Homeless... Read more »

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Listen: Florida’s new permitless carry law will go into effect this Saturday, and some Floridians are concerned. The law allows Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit. This makes Florida the 26th state to allow permitless carry. Governor DeSantis praised the measure at his “State of the State” address in March. “A constitutional right... Read more »

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Hundreds of protesters marched in Tampa this Sunday to protest of some of the many controversial bills passed during the Florida legislative session. Many organizations are standing up against legislation that they say makes the state more dangerous and less free for Floridians.

The recently completed legislative session included bans on gender affirming care for minors, limits on diversity initiatives at universities, and attacks on Disney. Florida Democrats came out to say they are fighting back. Democratic State House Representative Dianne Hart said the new law to limit abortions after the 6th week of pregnancy might only be the beginning if DeSantis has his way.

“You think six weeks is bad? Next year we’ll be looking at zero! To ban abortions altogether. Next year you’ll be looking at open carry; put your gun on your hip and don’t worry about it. You don’t need a permit, so everybody will be armed. You all saw what happened yesterday.”

Only a day earlier a shooter killed 8 and wounded 7 people in Allen, Texas, prompting President Biden to urge an assault weapons ban. But DeSantis signed a law in April eliminating the need for Floridians to acquire a permit to carry a concealed firearm. Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried was arrested in April for joining a protest against the 6-week abortion ban, saying these issues are important to all people.

“These are issues that transcend partisan politics, but we are the ones, Democrats, who are going to fight back and make sure that the people are represented.”

Sarah Parker is the president of Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida and was one of 10 others arrested in April for protesting the abortion ban.

“We did not expect Senator Book and Nikki Fried to get arrested. They didn’t expect him to throw oxygen on the ember that we call the Democratic Party. They did not expect activists, Gen Z, and Millennials, to now sit at that table. And we are doing it. We are going to be Ron DeSantis’ worst nightmare.”

According to the Florida Division of Elections fewer than half of state registered Democratic Party members voted in 2022, so Parker called on organizers to work to redefine the state Democratic Party and encourage greater turnout in the next election. For WMNF News I’m Josh Holton.

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https://wmnf.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/The_Scoop_230405-1.mp3Donald Trump appears in courtFor the first time in history, a former U.S. president has appeared in court as a criminal defendant. Donald Trump surrendered to authorities yesterday to appear on charges related to hush-money payments at the height of the 2016 presidential election. Trump, a 2024 presidential candidate, pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges. Prosecutors said Trump conspired to undermine the 2016 presidential election by trying to suppress information that could harm his candidacy. Trump is due back in court in December, but his lawyers asked that he be excused from attending that hearing in person because of the extraordinary security required to have him show up.

Elected officials gathered around FloridaElected officials from around Florida gathered for a press conference yesterday to speak out against bills that they claim are attacks on local control. WMNF’s Chris Young reports.

Sarasota School Board considers hiring conservativeThe Sarasota School Board are considering hiring a consultant linked to the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. But they put off a vote following heated comments during a workshop yesterday. The meeting came after about 100 people rallied against the proposed contract. The board will wait until its next meeting to consider hiring the consulting firm Vermilion Education, which has ties to the conservative college. Two draft contracts would allow Vermilion to sit in on interviews of teachers, as well as have access to school policies, assignments, lesson plans and book lists.

Gun Reform advocatesGun reform advocates organized at Curtis Hixon Park Tuesday one day after Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law to allow carrying concealed firearms without a permit. WMNF’s Camilla Carrero has more…

Florida Democratic chair arrested after protestFlorida Democratic Chair Nikki Fried, state senator minority leader Lauren Book and nine other protestors were arrested Monday night. This comes after the state senate passed the six week abortion ban. Nikki Fried and Lauren Book protested with occupy tally in which the protest was planned days before the governor Ron DeSantis signed the permitless carry bill yesterday. This would allow guns to be carried almost anywhere without a permit. Fried says they were arrested for trespassing despite that a permit to protest was revoked. Fried says they were taken to the county jail, where the protesters were booked and spent only a few hours. They were released on zero bond and in some cases, on their recognizance in others. Fried and Book were released at midnight, while the other protestors were released a few hours later. Nikki Fried plans to start speaking on behalf of the Democratic Party on a college tour shortly in preparation for the next election cycle.

Plant City municipal electionPlant City held a municipal election last night, with nearly 8% of eligible voters turning out to the polls. Vice Mayor and incumbent City Commissioner Michael Sparkman defeated his newcomer opponent Jeremy Griner by 11 percentage points, and secured another term on the Plant City Commission. The unofficial results can be seen on votehillsborough.gov.

Information from the Florida Public Radio network, News Service of Florida and Associated Press, was used in this report.

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https://wmnf.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/The_Scoop_230331.mp3Donald Trump has been indictedDonald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after years of investigations into his personal, political and business dealings. Prosecutors say they are working to coordinate Trump’s surrender could happen early next week. They are not saying whether they will seek prison time if he’s convicted, a development that would not prevent Trump from assuming the presidency. An expected leading rival in the race, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, called the indictment “un-American” in a statement last night that did not mention Trump’s name.

Bill to prevent abortionsThe Florida Senate yesterday took up a bill that would prevent abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and positioned it for an expected vote Monday. The bill, sponsored by Republican Senator Erin Grall, is one of the most-controversial issues of this year’s legislative session after the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a 15-week limit last year. Earlier yesterday, the House Health & Human Services Committee voted 13-7 along almost-straight party lines to approve the House version of the bill. Republican Representative Traci Koster, joined Democrats in voting against the bill. With yesterday’s committee approval, the bill will go to the full House.

Anti-trans bathroom billA state senate subcommittee advanced a bill that requires transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond to their assigned gender at birth. WMNF’s Chris Young reports.

Women’s history monthWomen’s History month is wrapping up with a celebration last night at the Cuban Club, where local historians discussed the significance around the unveiling of a new mural and historic marker in Ybor City. The event commemorated the 1937 Anti-Fascist Women’s March lead by at least 5,000 mostly Latina women. Mural artist Michelle Sawyer chronicled the women’s march in a mural on the Eastern wall of the Ybor City Development Corporation on 7th avenue and 20th street.

Here’s historian Dr. Sarah McNamara, the author of Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South. Her grandmother marched in the anti-fascist protest. Dr. McNamara also spoke with host Rochelle Reback on MidPoint Wednesday, and you can hear that interview in the archives on wmnf.org. La Gaceta publisher Patrick Manteiga will join Dr. McNamara to discuss her new book on WMNF’s The Skinny with Ray Roa and Ben Montgomery later today at 11am.

New College of FloridaRecently released text messages suggest New College of Florida Trustee, Matthew Spalding, coordinated efforts behind the scenes to overhaul the institution’s leadership. WMNF’s Ta’Leah Van Sistine reports that alumni say this news raises legal and ethical concerns.

Bill for people to carry concealed weaponsA bill to allow people to carry concealed weapons in Florida without a permit passed the Republican legislature yesterday [Thursday] and is now headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s expected to sign. Valerie Crowder has more…

Information from the Florida Public Radio network, News Service of Florida and Associated Press, was used in this report.

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https://wmnf.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PERMITLESSCARRYBILL.mp3Floridians would be able to carry guns without concealed-weapons licenses under a bill the House passed on Friday.

House Bill 543 says people need to have a valid ID with them when in possession of a gun. But they only have to display their ID if an officer asks them to.

Representative Dan Daley is an alum of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — the setting of one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.

Like many Democrats, Daley said he supports the Second Amendment, but stressed that isn’t what this bill is about.

“Nobody, I don’t think anybody in this room, is coming for your guns,” Daley said. “But we’re asking for reasonable and responsible gun ownership. And that’s not something that this bill supports.”

Despite emotional pleas from Democrats, Republicans like Representative John Snyder said proper gun training and permits will not decrease gun violence.

However, according to a 2022 study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, firearm assaults increase in states that relax firearm permit restrictions.

Snyder said this bill would allow Floridians to protect themselves without permission from the government.

“I trust the people of the great state of Florida a whole lot more than I trust the government,” Snyder said.

The bill will now move forward to the Senate to be debated and voted on.

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https://wmnf.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/WMNFHeadlinesDigest2023Mar24.wavSchool choice expansionAll school-aged kids in Florida will soon be eligible for private school funding or money to use on other education-related services. Florida lawmakers have sent a massive school choice expansion to Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk. Lynn Hatter reports.

“Don’t say gay” lawFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration wants to extend a ban on classroom discussions surrounding gender identity and sexual orientation. Regan McCarthy reports the proposal would expand the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law through 12th grade.

“Parents’ rights” billHouse Republicans will press forward today with legislation to give parents more input on what is taught in public schools, even as critics decry the so called “parents’ rights” bill as a burdensome proposal that would fuel a far-right movement that has resulted in book bans and rewrites of history curricula across the country. Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made the bill a top priority. House Freedom Caucus members attempted to add extreme amendments to the bill like a call to abolish the Department of Education, a requirement that schools report transgender athletes who participate in women’s sports, and an endorsement of vouchers that would send public funds to private schools. Democrats also raised alarm that the bill as written would force schools to out LGBTQ students to their families, which can sometimes lead to abuse or abandonment.

Bill to lower age to buy firearmsAfter a contentious debate yesterday the Florida House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill that would lower the legal age to purchase a rifle or long gun from 21 to 18. WMNF’s Seán Kinane reports, it comes five years after the state raised the age to 21.

Proposal to carry guns without concealed-weapons licenseA controversial proposal that would allow people to carry guns without state concealed-weapons licenses is poised to pass the House on today. The Republican-controlled House took up the measure yesterday and positioned it for a vote. The bill would allow people to carry concealed firearms without going through the current licensing steps, including undergoing background screening and receiving training. Democrats argued that easing gun restrictions will result in increased violence. Some gun-rights groups want people to be able to openly carry firearms in most public places. Their hopes were briefly raised Tuesday, when Republican Representative Mike Beltran of Riverview, filed a proposed amendment calling for “open carry” of firearms. But Beltran withdrew the proposal a day later. A Senate version of the bill is ready to go to the full Senate.

Increasing housing densityThis final story of today’s news summary first aired Thursday evening before last night’s vote in St. Pete City Council. The Council voted to allow increased housing density. Here’s the version of the story before the vote.

The St Petersburg city council will vote on a measure to increase housing density in the city, however, WMNF’s Chris Young reports that local housing advocacy groups have very different reactions.

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After a contentious debate Thursday the Florida House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill that would lower the legal age to purchase a rifle or long gun from 21 to 18.

It comes five years after the state raised the age to 21.

Listen:After the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the Republican-controlled state Legislature passed a bill to protect people from school shooters.

The bill did a number of things recommended by the commission formed after that shooting to evaluate school safety. One was to increase the age to purchase a rifle or long gun from 18 to 21.

But Thursday one of the sponsors of a new bill, Republican Representative Bobby Payne from Central Florida, said it’s time to reverse that.

“Quite frankly, we’ve infringed upon the rights of 21 to 18-year-olds under our Constitution and 14th Amendment as seen by the Supreme Court to not allow ages 18, 19 and 20-year-olds to own a firearm,” Payne said.

HB 1543 advanced on a vote of 16-6.

Democratic Representative Dan Daley graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Before the vote, he called the bill “a slap in the face [to the] deceased and family of the deceased.”

“The research has been clear for years that the prefrontal cortex – that’s the portion of the brain responsible for executive brain function – is not fully developed until [age] 25. Maybe it’s part of the reason we don’t allow folks to drink until they’re 21. But we’re willing to change the law here and let them have access to a long gun again?” Daley asked the committee.

Daley says that since the 2018 Parkland massacre, there have been 2700 mass shootings in the United States. More than 100 have happened just this year.

He says that “six out of the nine deadliest mass school shootings since 2018 were conducted by individuals 21 and younger.”

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A controversial proposal that would allow people to carry guns without state concealed-weapons licenses is poised to pass the House on Friday.

The Republican-controlled House took up the measure (HB 543) on Thursday and positioned it for a vote.

The bill would allow people to carry concealed firearms without going through the current licensing steps, including undergoing background screening and receiving training.

Parts of the bill also seek to bolster school safety, including by providing money for school hardening, better coordinating threat-assessment services and allowing armed “guardians” in private schools.

Bill sponsor Chuck Brannan, R-Macclenny, called the measure a “public safety” bill. “This bill is a big step, a big step to help the average law-abiding citizen, to keep them from having to go through the hoops of getting a permit from the government to carry their weapon,” Brannan said. “It is also not going to change who can and who cannot carry a gun. People that are prohibited now are still going to be prohibited.”

But Democrats argued that easing gun restrictions will result in increased violence.

The proposal also has drawn the ire of some gun-rights groups, which want people to be able to openly carry firearms in most public places.

Their hopes were briefly raised Tuesday, when Rep. Mike Beltran, R-Riverview, filed a proposed amendment calling for “open carry” of firearms. But Beltran withdrew the proposal a day later.

A Senate version of the bill (SB 150) is ready to go to the full Senate.

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TALLAHASSEE — Citing gun restrictions dating to the Reconstruction era, a federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a 2018 Florida law that prevents sales of rifles and other long guns to people under age 21.

The law, passed in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is one of the only firearm restrictions approved by the Legislature in decades. Federal law already prohibited the sale of handguns to people under 21.

Lawmakers passed the measure weeks after Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time, used an AR-15 rifle to kill 17 students and staff members and injure 17 others at the Broward County school.

The National Rifle Association quickly filed a federal lawsuit, arguing in part that the law imposes an unconstitutional restriction on the Second Amendment rights of people under 21.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker rejected the challenge in 2021, ruling that previous court opinions have given states leeway to impose Second Amendment restrictions in some instances. The NRA appealed, and a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments last year.

Thursday’s decision relied heavily on guidance from a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which said gun laws must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

The history shows Florida’s 2018 law is consistent with such tradition, Judge Robin Rosenbaum wrote in an opinion joined fully by Judge Anne Conway. Judge Charles Wilson wrote a short concurring opinion.

The ruling mapped out the historical record on age restrictions since the Reconstruction era. It also said the Florida law allows people under 21 to possess or use guns, such as guns that they receive as gifts.

“To begin with, the act is no more restrictive than its forebearers: While the act burdens 18-to-20-year-olds’ rights to buy firearms, unlike its Reconstruction era analogues, it still leaves 18-to-20-year-olds free to acquire any type of firearm — including ‘the quintessential self-defense weapon,’ the handgun … in legal ways, as long as they don’t buy the weapons,” Rosenbaum wrote.

In the mid-1800s, Rosenbaum wrote, Alabama and Tennessee laws prohibited selling, loaning or giving guns to people under 21, which was the age of majority in both states at the time. A similar law passed by Kentucky in 1859 included an exception allowing parents to give deadly weapons to their children.

The Alabama and Tennessee laws imposed “a greater burden on the right to keep and bear arms than does the (Florida) act, which leaves 18-to-20-year-olds free to obtain firearms through legal means other than purchasing,” Rosenbaum wrote.

The Kentucky law and the Florida law both “provide pathways” to acquire weapons, Rosenbaum, who was appointed to the appeals court by former President Barack Obama, added.

“As for the ‘why’ of those historical regulations, it is also ‘relevantly similar’ to the ‘why’ of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act (the 2018 law). Both ‘regulations burden a law-abiding citizen’s right to armed self-defense’ for the same reason: enhancing public safety,” the 40-page ruling said. The Florida law also aims to enhance public safety by addressing gun violence at schools, a goal “that is well in keeping with traditional firearm regulations,” Rosenbaum wrote.

The NRA has argued, in part, that the age restriction infringes on Second Amendment rights of young adults who have been authorized to use weapons when they serve in the military or in law enforcement.

The NRA “is currently assessing our appeal options” and is disappointed in Thursday’s decision, spokeswoman Amy Hunter said in an email.

“The NRA supports the right of law-abiding adults to possess firearms for self-defense, hunting and sport shooting. There is no reason why an adult who is old enough to defend his or her country should be restricted from exercising their Second Amendment rights,” Hunter said. “The NRA also looks forward to the Florida Legislature addressing the issue and removing this unconstitutional ban.”

The panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court disagreed with the NRA’s arguments related to people under 21 being able to use guns in the military or in law enforcement.

“The NRA’s conclusion is incorrect. The NRA mistakes a legal obligation for a right,” Rosenbaum wrote.

Thursday’s ruling came days after two Republican House members filed a bill (HB 1543) that would remove the age restriction. Hunter’s email pointed to the bill, which Wilson also addressed in a concurring opinion.

Wilson agreed “with the judgment given the law as it stands today” but said he would have waited until the end of the legislative session before issuing a ruling because passage of the bill “may render the issue moot.”

But in a lengthy footnote, the main opinion said the case “remains very much alive.” State lawmakers might not pass the bill, and the parties in the lawsuit — filed five years ago — submitted briefs before and after the Bruen ruling.

“Given these circumstances — the speculative nature of any possible mootness scenario and the fact that neither party has asked us to wait to see whether any mootness potentiality materializes — we think we should resolve the parties’ disagreement without further delay,” Rosenbaum wrote.

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Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell joined us to discuss the parade of horrible legislation that the Florida Republican-controlled legislature is planning now that they have a super-majority. We discussed everything from the dangerous and irresponsible “permitless carry” gun bill to the total gutting of public education funding in Florida by increasing school voucher eligibility for every student in Florida. Rep. Driskell also tried to give us some “political therapy” and a dose of optimism so we don’t drown in a sea of political despair, and urged everyone to make their voices heard by their representatives and most importantly, at the ballot box. Brian Connolly, Vice President of the USF Faculty Senate also joined us to discuss the university faculty’s perspective on House Bill 999 and what they perceive to be the death of academic freedom in Florida in House Bill 999. Both Leader Driskell and Prof. Connolly agree that this bill would have devastating consequences for the reputation and quality of Florida higher education, but, like the school voucher bill, it would also have devastating economic impacts that could even lead to the need for a state income tax in Florida.

One positive thing…The Florida High School Athletic Assn. was going to require all female student-athletes to disclose their menstrual history to their schools. Rep. Driskell’s caucus sent a letter to the FHSAA demanding they reverse course and asking them questions as to why they were doing this, and within 48 hours, they withdrew that policy. While not a legislative victory, because the Democrats lack the numbers now to affect legislation, it was undoubtedly a policy victory that protected female and trans Florida high schoolers.

The Florida legislative session with the new Republican super-majority begins next week, Tuesday. It’s the most dangerous time of the year in Florida.

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Tampa Bay Times Pulitzer-prize-winning editorial writer, political columnist, professor in the USF Honors College, and former WMNF Radio host, Dan Ruth was back on the airwaves with Shelley on MidPoint Wednesday for a year-end wrap-up. He’s got some thoughts on the news media, permitless carry of weapons in Florida, Fox News, DeSantis’ run for President, and the death of civic literacy making people too stupid to fulfill their responsibilities as citizens. It’s a fun “Ask Me Anything” style dialogue with Dan, Shelley, and our listeners to end the MidPoint year.

You can stream the show here or look for WMNF MidPoint wherever you get your podcasts.

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A judge has tossed out a lawsuit challenging federal prohibitions on medical-marijuana patients buying and possessing guns.

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The state agency that issues concealed-weapons licenses has sued the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

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Psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Tanner, of the Emotional Wellness program of the Hillsborough Co. Public School System and psychotherapist Dr. Wendy Rice joined us on MidPoint to discuss the crisis in teen mental health one day after an 18-year-old boy shot his grandmother,2 teachers, and 18 4th graders at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tx. Research... Read more »

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This week, gun control advocates Gail Powell-Cope and Crystal Turner discuss their thoughts on gun control and the permitless carry debate.

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Freddy Barton, executive director of Safe and Sound Hillsborough, a community-based intervention program intended to prevent violence in Hillsborough County joined WaveMakers on April 19.

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The Sarasota Police Department will host a gun turn-in event on Saturday, January 22, called "Done with the Gun."

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The school safety group Stand With Parkland discuss ways elected officials can take further steps to make schools safer for kids,

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Radioactivity with Rob Lorei Listen Here: Select 09/11/19 from the drop down menu Radioactivity: Interviews & Live Call-In Intro: Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up—some practical ideas about how to reduce gun violence in the US. But first one listener comment about yesterday’s program. Part of the discussion yesterday was about... Read more »

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Radioactivity with Rob Lorei Listen Here: Select 08/16/19 from the drop down menu Radioactivity: Interviews & Live Call-In Intro: Good morning- welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. Coming up—in the wake of recent mass shootings in Gilroy, California, El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio– what are the chances that any sort of legislation to limit... Read more »

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Radioactivity with Rob Lorei Listen Here: Select 08/06/19 from the drop down menu Radioactivity: Interviews & Live Call-In Intro: Good morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei. After another series of gun massacres shocked the country this past weekend- many people are wondering what can be done to limit gun violence in the US? We’re... Read more »

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Radioactivity Host Rob Lorei Plays Audio From Florida This Week on WEDU Listen Here: Select 06/10/19 from the drop down menu Radioactivity: Interviews & Live Call-In This morning we’ll hear a replay of Florida This Week which is a TV showing airing every Friday night on WEDU-TV (Tampa), Florida’s most watched PBS station. Florida This... Read more »

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Florida’s 2018 youth vote swells over previous midterm By KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — They rallied hundreds of thousands to march for gun reform, landed on the cover of Time magazine and raised millions of dollars from celebrities like Oprah and George Clooney. But could the teenage survivors of the Parkland school... Read more »

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The mayors of the three largest cities in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties disagree with Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri about arming teachers. Tampa’s Bob Buckhorn, St. Petersburg’s Rick Kriseman and Clearwater’s George Cretikos responded Thursday to the question from Pinellas School Board member Joanne Lentino – they think classroom teachers should not carry guns. The three spoke at... Read more »

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2018 in Florida: mass shootings, hurricanes, election sagas By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida in 2018 saw a horrific school shooting, a devastating hurricane that ravaged parts of the state’s Panhandle region, and a contentious election that dragged on for weeks. A school shooting sent reverberations through the nation, in schools... Read more »

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Our guest today says that the writers of the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution intended for guns to be regulated. This is WMNF’s Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei.

There’s an effort to put an assault weapons ban on the 2020 Florida ballot.

A group called Ban Assault Weapons Now is beginning a petition drive- it’s headed by Gail Schwartz who lost her nephew in the Parkland massacre.

The proposed amendment would prohibit all semiautomatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than ten rounds.

If the amendment passes, those who already own assault weapons could keep the guns they already own, but would have to register their firearms with the state within a year of the amendment’s effective date.

The group has already collected more than $400,000 from just over 1,900 supporters. The average contribution: about $145.

Following the Parkland shooting, Democratic lawmakers tried to force a debate on banning assault weapons in the legislature in Tallahassee.

Assault weapons are military style weapons built to fire one shot at a time—but they can be easily modified to shoot rapid fire.

Our guest in this first half hour is Saul Cornell, a leading authority on early American constitutional thought and the Second Amendment. He’ll be giving a talk this Friday night at 8PM at the University of Tampa e titled The Second Amendment: Myths and Realities, begins at 8 p.m.(In the Trustees Board Room on the ninth floor of the Vaughn Center and is free and open to the public.)

Cornell is the Paul and Diane Guenther chair in American history at Fordham University, and the former director of the Second Amendment Research Center at the John Glenn Institute. He is the author of The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, which won the 2001 Cox Book Prize, and A Well-Regulated Militia: the Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America.

He recently authored an article on Salon about the 2011 Tucson shooting and gun control, as well as an opinion piece for the New York Daily News entitled, “Have guns at home? You should have to tell your child’s school.” Cornell’s work has been widely cited by legal scholars, historians, the U.S. Supreme Court and several state supreme courts.

Text of Second Amendment to the US Constitution: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Florida has a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases. But anyone without a felony record, domestic abuse conviction, or a handful of other exceptions — such as a commitment to a mental institution — can walk into a gun store, wait a few minutes to clear a background check, and walk out with an AR-15 -style rifle, magazines and ammunition. (Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/ar15-mass-shootings-guns.html)

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