Florida’s Byron Donalds Takes Shot At David Jolly Over 2A Comments

Florida’s David Jolly wants to be governor. 

Once upon a time, he might have had a real shot at it. However, now he’s an anti-gun zealot who seems to think the people of Florida actually want that. Sure, there is a significant resistance to restoring gun rights in the legislature, but not because the people of Florida really want the opposite of their rights being restored.

And Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds has some thoughts on Jolly’s latest remarks.

While questions swirl about whether U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds will face GOP opposition for Governor, the Naples Republican remains focused on his Democratic opponent.

Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign launched a new ad attacking former U.S. Rep. David Jolly’s statements on gun regulation. The 40-second clip ties together commentary by the MSNBC contributor questioning whether the Constitution should even retain the Second Amendment.

“You can say I don’t agree with the Second Amendment. Maybe I don’t. I don’t care,” Jolly says in the first highlighted clip. “The ability of anybody to buy a gun is absolutely foolish.”

…

Donalds’ campaign said Florida voters want someone who supports gun ownership rights.

“David Jolly wants to abolish the Second Amendment and trample on Floridians’ fundamental rights and freedoms. Florida voters should tell radical Democrat David Jolly to keep his hands off their guns,” said Ryan Smith, Chief Strategist for the Byron Donalds Campaign.”

Donalds often brags about not voting for the post-Parkland gun control measures, which is certainly a point in his favor.

Jolly’s comments are really troubling, though, because there are two ways to take it.

One is that he means that he has an issue with just anyone who wants a gun can buy one. That’s not precisely true, of course, since there is a whole list of offenses that can make one prohibited from buying a firearm, to say nothing of the whole “adjudicated as mentally defective” thing. If that’s what he’s saying, then he’s just plain wrong, and if he’s meaning beyond those, it’s still a problem because who decides who else is permitted to buy a gun and who isn’t? 

How can such a thing be done in a way that keeps guns out of the problematic hands, but no one else’s?

Of course, on the other hand, he might mean that it’s foolish that anyone at all can buy a firearm, which is very anti-Second Amendment, and he can’t spin that any other way.

In either case, Jolly is advocating for taking a big, steaming dump on the Second Amendment.

Donalds saying he wants to abolish it actually sounds like a fair summation of the facts as we know them. Any kind of restriction to keep whatever he means by “anyone” from buying a gun is, in fact, an attempt to kill the Second Amendment. It’s a blatantly unconstitutional power grab by an anti-gun candidate in a pro-gun state.

That’s troubling.

The upside is that I have a hard time picturing the state that elected Ron DeSantis deciding that David Jolly is the natural choice to follow suit, especially as Florida has truly thrived under DeSantis.