VIDEO: Tom Talks With GOA Florida Director Luis Valdez About Inaction in ‘Gunshine State’

I live in Georgia, but I’m pretty close to the Florida border, all things considered. I’m down that way semi-regularly, so the gun laws there impact me even if I don’t get to vote one way or another on the people who make them. In fairness, I shouldn’t.

But I do take an interest in what they do or, as in what we’re seeing this legislative session, what they don’t do.

So I sat down with Gun Owners of America’s Florida director and my friend, Luis Valdez, to get a bead on just what the heck is wrong down there in Florida.

As Luis and I note, there’s absolutely no reason for Florida to be the most restrictive pro-gun state in the nation. With a supposedly pro-gun party holding a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature and a pro-gun governor ready to sign gun rights legislation, it should be a slam dunk.

Yet, for some reason, it’s not.

Luis chalks much of this up to the fact that many Democrats saw the writing on the wall and swapped jerseys without actually changing their politics, particularly on guns, but there are also a number of lawmakers who are long-time Republicans who are taking a stance on the Second Amendment that is absolutely intolerable.

Let’s understand something that Luis will probably agree with but that we didn’t get into in the video: There’s a big difference between being pro-gun and anti-gun control.

Anti-gun control is probably fine in some cases, but that’s just holding the status quo, which isn’t remotely good enough when you’ve got laws like they have down there. It might be better than anti-gun, but it’s still not great.

Pro-gun means you’re trying to restore people’s gun rights to where they should have been all along. You’re not just opposing gun control measures, but you’re also advancing the cause of liberty via the Second Amendment by supporting legislation that moves the needle back where it should have been.

Florida has no open carry, no campus carry, restrictions on legal adults under 21 buying long guns, restrictions on that same group carrying concealed, mandatory waiting periods, and red flag laws. It’s ridiculous.

We also talk about some of the other measures that should have passed this legislative cycle, but won’t, and Luis calls out lawmakers who are a big chunk of the problem. GOA doesn’t pull punches, and Luis Valdez doesn’t either, which is refreshing.

Folks from Florida should watch to see which names they need to see removed from office in the next election, and folks in other states should check it out to pick up a few ideas for where to look for issues in their own states.

It was good to talk about Florida with someone who understands the politics better down that way, and it was good to do it with someone who was thoroughly uninterested in pulling punches.

Some down that way like to call their state The Gunshine State, but the way I see it, the ‘shine isn’t that bright, all things considered. It’s time to polish things up a bit.