2016: The Year Of The Gun In Tallahassee

 

 

BY SAM FIELDS

 

Sam Fields

 

It seems likely that the 2016 session of the Florida Legislature will expand gun owner rights in at least two ways.

The votes are there to allow open carry of handguns known as “manual possession”. Think Matt Dillon and Gunsmoke.

The second idea is to allow people to carry handguns on public college campuses.

I’ve got a problem with both these ideas. But, it’s not what you think.

I don’t think they go far enough.

If, as the NRA and its supporters say: “The cure for a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” why would we limit that option to college campuses?

Why do they want to continue prohibiting concealed or open possession in government buildings including the legislative chambers, the Governor’s Mansion and his offices? When it comes to their own safety they not only don’t want law-abiding Americans to carry guns into their place of business.

If you walk into the legislature, they want the police to inspect us without even a hunch, much less “probable cause” that we have broken a law.

Consider the hypocrisy of keeping guns out of courtrooms.

Under these proposals, a defendant in a moot court class at Florida International University would be allowed to pack a concealed or open handgun during a mock trial.

So why should a real defendant, not otherwise barred from packing heat, be prohibited from letting the jurors know that he is also represented by the law firm of Smith & Wesson. If a juror does not like it they can ask to be recused or bring their own gun.

Cops, bailiffs, and judges bring guns to court, why not defendants?

In the early 1970’s, when there was spate of armed airplane hijackings, Archie Bunker, the lead character on the TV-show “All In the Family,” proposed solving the problem by arming all the passengers.

In 1970 it was a gag.

In 2016 it will probably be the law…and I’m for it and a lot more.

 

(Thirty years before he wrote this satirical piece, Sam Fields was the legal counsel for the National Coalition to Ban Handguns in Washington, D.C.) 

 



5 Responses to “2016: The Year Of The Gun In Tallahassee”

  1. Actually says:

    I know you were joking but a member did file a bill to allow guns at meetings of the legislature.

  2. Floridan says:

    I’d like one of the people who support open-carry and guns on campus to explain why people are not allowed to bring firearms into the Legislative galleries.

  3. Count LF Chodkiewicz Chudzikiewicz says:

    Yes I agree with Counsellor Fields on the gun issue, but those leading tge charge to get effective gun laws have never been able politically to achieve their aims because the gun-manufacturers dominated board of the NRA has always had well financed clever paid lobbyists and political action committees and the reformers like Counsellor Fields only have logic, sanity, and common sense but no big bucks on their side. One of the most depressing facts of

  4. More Guns says:

    SunSentinel Thursday OCT 22, 2015

    “Corey Jones was shot three times by an undercover police officer who never showed him a badge, attorneys for Jones’ family said Thursday.

    Jones’ family and their attorneys met with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office on Thursday to get more details about what happened when Jones was shot early Sunday while waiting with his broken-down car parked on an Interstate 95 exit ramp near PGA Boulevard.

    The Jones family attorneys said they were told that the plain-clothed Palm Beach Gardens police officer fired six total shots while Jones never fired his gun.
    Jones family said the musician had a concealed weapons permit for his gun, which they said he carried for protection while traveling to and from concerts with expensive equipment and money.

    “We believe Corey went to his grave not knowing if this was a real cop,” said Benjamin Crump, a high-profile civil rights attorney representing the Jones family.”

    If the Tow truck driver was there with his concealed weapon permit and his gun, maybe the report would have said that two persons died in a shoot out.

    The NRA would be disappointed because if more shots are fired then more $$$$ for the Guns and ammo manufactures!!!

    I agree with Sam, this would help the economy for more guns and bullets in the hands of law Abiding citizens

  5. Howard the Moron says:

    Open carry – No.
    Concealed carry – Yes. Anywhere you want. Until you pull it out and do something stupid and then the population is reduced by one idiot.
    A government that fears an armed citizenry is a government to be feared.
    I don’t care what the idiot Crump says, or attempts to say in English..he only wants money. I still don’t believe he passed the same Bar exam I did.