Florida Anti-Gunners Not Expecting Much, But Neither Should Pro-Gun Folks

Florida has sometimes been billed as “The Gunshine State” by residents. After all, it’s a pro-gun state, right? They got permitless carry via the legislature, and now they’ve got open carry. There’s every reason for people to trust the state to protect their gun rights.

Of course, that’s not quite true.

For example, adults under 21 can’t buy a long gun in the state. Everyone has to deal with a three-day waiting period. Open carry only happened because of a judicial decision. There are red flag laws in place that can disarm someone because of the wild claims of another.

In short, there are a lot of issues.

Still, it’s pro-gun enough that anti-gun lawmakers aren’t expecting much out of their gun control push for the coming legislative session.

Democrats in Florida’s Legislature have filed more than a dozen gun control bills — which even the party’s lawmakers acknowledge are likely to go nowhere — less than two months after the “Gunshine State” legalized open carry.

The routine submitting of gun control legislation with nothing to show for it prompted a leading gun violence prevention advocate to reprimand Democrats in Tallahassee. A number of the bills are introduced year after year and quietly meet the same fate.

“Unfortunately in the state of Florida, the majority of those on the Democratic side have just become weak,” said Fred Guttenberg, whose teen daughter was killed in a South Florida school shooting. “They’ve forgotten how to fight; they’ve accepted the idea that they can’t accomplish much, and I think they’re mistaken.”

None of the Democratic-sponsored bills to restrict gun rights introduced in recent weeks has been scheduled for a committee hearing by the GOP leadership, while a Republican-backed measure that would broaden gun rights is already on the agenda for next week.

…

Here in Florida, Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, and Rep. Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs, introduced the ammunition bills for the 2026 legislative session. In the House, Daley’s bill must pass through four committees or subcommittees more than the usual three; a procedural move by Republican leadership that makes it even less likely it could be approved before the end of the 60-day session.

Polsky acknowledged her bill probably won’t pass in the Senate.

“It’s very doubtful or even impossible,” she said. “I still file these bills because they’re important for my constituents and it’s important policy.”

Daley, who graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas before the shooting, also said it was unlikely the House would pass his bill. “That doesn’t mean that we don’t continue to push as hard as we can because it’s important policy that keeps us all safe,” he said.

“A lot of what I work on up here is school safety, reasonable gun reform, mental health reform, trying to make sure that something like the tragedy at my alma mater doesn’t happen again,” Daley said.

The piece also notes the Republican bill referenced didn’t happen last year because the House and the Senate couldn’t see eye-to-eye on the particulars.

I’m not ready to believe the issues have been fully resolved, and it’ll pass this year.

In other words, while anti-gunners aren’t optimistic, I’m not sure pro-gun folks should be optimistic, either.

While Florida has a Republican supermajority, which should translate into repeated Second Amendment wins, it really hasn’t. At best, many of those Republicans are anti-gun control, as opposed to being pro-gun. There’s a difference, and voters need to learn to recognize that, because anti-gun control politicians don’t restore rights. They just help hold the line, and people in Florida deserve better than that.

Where there’s a big difference, though, is in the fact that these lawmakers can be pressured to come around. Calling and emailing them, telling them you want them to support the pro-gun laws, will do more with these legislators than the anti-gunners, so it’s critical that folks in Florida step up and take care of business.

Do that and we’ll see some traction down that way.

Without it, and the entire session could turn out to yield absolutely nothing for anyone. That’s better than some alternatives, but not what should be happening there.

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country, even many in Florida, are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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