Broward’s Gun Control Quest: Good Politics

BY BUDDY NEVINS   

 

 

When I read the bill that two Broward Democratic lawmakers filed this week, I couldn’t help thinking of Don Quixote and his trustee sidekick Sancho Panza.

You remember Don Quixote?

He’s the poor Spaniard who reads so many chivalrous novels that he becomes deluded. He believes he is a knight sent to banish evil and defend the helpless.

That fiction is contained in a novel from the early 1600s.

But Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are very real in the Broward Legislative Delegation.  Their names are State Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, and state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland.

Waldman and Ring filed identical bills that would remove a state prohibition forbidding local governments from regulating guns.

These bills have little or no chance of passing. I can’t image them even getting to the floor for a vote.

Waldman and Ring are like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

They are either fooling themselves that they can be victorious.  Or know they can’t pass these bills and are spinning the public.

I believe the later. They have other goals in mind.

These bills are good politics in Waldman and Ring’s overwhelmingly Democratic districts nestled in west Broward.

Through news releases and public statements Waldman and Ring will remind the gun-loving Florida Legislative majority that there are some parts of this state that want the option to control firearms. It will get coverage here and win strengthen their support in their Democratic base.

They can also use the bills to point out that the Republican leadership are hypocrites. Calling attention to Republican flaws is always popular among grass roots Democrats.

With their philosophy of small, less centralized government, the GOP claims it supports local government. It claims that government closest to the people works best.

Waldman and Ring will point out this philosophy is phony when it comes to gun control.

In the end, this feel-good gun control legislation is a distraction in the name of politics.  It takes time away from other, more achievable measures.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza wasted time in an impractical quest to fulfill their lofty ideals.

Sounds like Waldman and Ring and their gun control legislation.

Just one thing I want to know.  Which one is Don Quixote and which one is Sancho Panza?

 

 

Don Quote and Sancho Panza or State Rep. Jim Waldman and State Sen. Jeremy Ring

 

XXXXX

Here is the most relevant part of Ring’s Senate bill:

 

Section 1. Section 790.33, Florida Statutes, is amended to

 

15 read:

 

16 790.33 Field of regulation of firearms and ammunition;

 

17 county and municipal ordinances preempted.

 

18 (1) PREEMPTION.—Except as otherwise expressly prohibited

 

19 provided by the State Constitution or general law, the

 

20 municipalities and counties of this state may enact and enforce

 

21 ordinances that regulate Legislature hereby declares that it is

 

22 occupying the whole field of regulation of firearms and

 

23 ammunition, including the purchase, sale, transfer, taxation,

 

24 manufacture, ownership, possession, storage, and transportation

 

25 thereof, to the exclusion of all existing and future county,

 

26 city, town, or municipal ordinances or any administrative

 

27 regulations or rules adopted by local or state government

 

28 relating thereto. Any such existing ordinances, rules, or

 

29 regulations are hereby declared null and void.



14 Responses to “Broward’s Gun Control Quest: Good Politics”

  1. Ha Ha Ha says:

    Senators represent many more voters than Representatives, so Ring would be Don Quixote and Waldman would be Sancho Panza.

    But look at what Congressman Alan Grayson has done up in the Orlando area. His very aggressive approach to attacking Republican hypocrisy has certainly paid off for him, big-time. Ring and Waldman may well be showing their newly found interest in taking a drink of Alan Grayson’s potent political medicine!

  2. Lamberti is garbage says:

    Grayson is a psycho. Republican hypocrisy? How is Jen, Jeremy? Buddy, you are right….Demoncrats are delusional.

  3. Real Deal says:

    Ha Ha is a fucking moron. Every single post made by that source makes that point clear. He’s going to compare Alan Grayson to Jim Waldman? To Jeremy Ring? He’s going to compare Orlando politics to Broward? In the effort to make some seemingly politically shrewd point? What a joke. His every post is a joke.

  4. Jack Eston says:

    Gun Control is a distraction from Jeremy Ring’s real aim which is to end government pensions. By having us talk about Gun Control, we ignore his pension plan.

    His proposal which cut the pay of every government employee by instituting a contribution for their pension. New hires couldn’t even get a pension.

    Ring is carrying the Republicans water:

    “Two new Senate bills would require state and local governments to close their traditional retirement plans to new hires, enroll all employees in 401(k)-style plans and limit retirement options.

    The proposals, sponsored by Sen. Jeremy Ring, a Margate Democrat and chairman of the Senate Government Accountability Committee, are intended to help local governments shore up their tottering employee retirement accounts as well as relieve the mounting financial obligation local and state governments have made to their retirees. If passed, the changes would take effect July 1.

    One of the bills also requires state, school and county employees to pay into the Florida Retirement System for the first time since 1974. But rather than embrace the 5 percent contribution rate sought by Gov. Rick Scott in his budget proposal, the Senate is likely to settle on a lower number. That decision, Ring said, won’t be made until early March when the Senate budget committee decides how much to charge employees for their benefits.”

  5. The Truth About Waldman says:

    http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/11/jim_waldman_works_for_keiser.php

  6. Ha Ha Ha says:

    Alan Grayson, an outspoken progressive, won his seat in Congress in November 2012 by defeating his Republican opponent 62.52% to 37.48% – that’s a margin of victory of more than 25%.

    http://enight.dos.state.fl.us/FederalOffices/Representative/

    And that’s not a result coming from historically progressive Broward County – it’s in the central Florida “I-4 corridor” which has historically been a “swing area” of political transition between progressive South Florida and conservative North Florida.

  7. Real Deal says:

    As if to remove all doubt (a.k.a., please, please have respect for my opinion since blogging and saying things about my betters is all I have) Ha Ha throws out statistics that prove the point made, which was you can’t compare Orlando politics to Broward. Two very different places. Fucking moron.

  8. Kevin says:

    Actually, Grayson won in a newly-created majority-minority district (about 40% Hispanic and 20% black). He may well have trouble holding on to that district if there is a well-financed, good Hispanic candidate in a Democratic primary.

  9. Kevin says:

    … and it’s the same story of Kathy Castor in Tampa Bay. Her district is about 65% Black and Hispanic combined, but she has held that district for several terms.

    Further, Debbie Wasserman-Shultz’s district is very close to being majority-minority, but many of the Hispanics in that district are Republican. Still, if/when Debbie ever moves onto something else, that district may well be an opportunity for a Hispanic Democrat.

  10. Sam The Sham says:

    Well, the “I-4 Corridor” done swung the other way. No longer a conservative area, it is full of out of state transplants and other lofo’s. (That is “Low Information Voters” for Ha Ha Ha.)

  11. Ha Ha Ha says:

    http://proximityone.com/cd113_demographics.htm

    Alan Grayson’s 113th Congressional district (FL-9) is about 76.5% white, 10.7% black, 5.75% Some Other Race, 3.7% Asian, 3.0% multiracial, 0.4% American Indian or Alaska Native. 46% are Hispanics (an ethnicity which cuts across multiple races).
    ————
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_Census

    As self-reported in the 2010 Census, Hispanics are roughly 49.7% white, 42.2% Some Other Race, 6.3% multiracial, 2% black, 1.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.3% Asian.
    ————
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2012/08/29/b9023a52-f1ec-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html

    “[…] “The demographics race we’re losing badly,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.” […] Exit polls from 2008 showed that 90 percent of GOP voters were white, a homogeneity that has been consistent for more than 30 years, even as the percentage of the electorate that is white has fallen. […] just 2 percent of [2012 RNC] convention delegates are black. That’s according to an analysis by David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Bositis also said that only two members of the 165-member RNC are black and that none of the leaders of the committees responsible for drafting the GOP platform and adopting the convention rules are black.

    “This Republican Party base is white, aging and dying off,” he said. […]”

  12. just one vote says:

    From where I am and what I hear the backs of the taxpayers are broken. Carrying all the ‘financial load’ is the cause, so if there are priorites let su know because the sack ont he back of the (donkey) taxpayer is full. Noharm intended to deserving employees that think they deserve more but thats just the way it is in 2013.

  13. Plain Language says:

    Real Deal is right. Ha Ha and his friend McLovin are fucking morons. That’s because both are Alan Berkowitz. I can tell that from his Al Lamberti. Alan Berkowitz is a certified scumbag and a fucking moron. No different than his best friend Al Lamberti. Both are creeps.

  14. Ha Ha Ha says:

    @13 – If “Ha Ha” is your erroneous way of referring to me (as opposed to a reference to some other person who has used that screen name in the past at BrowardBeat – I have never used it), you are not only remarkably uncouth but also seriously dazed and confused.

    Firstly, using the temporary screen name “Lamberti = Homophobia”, I made my position on Lamberti very clear in this post:

    http://www.browardbeat.com/election-tidbits-lamberti-accused-of-dirty-campaigning-again/#comment-932714

    Secondly, Ghost of McLovin is a right-winger, and it is obvious to pretty much everyone but you that I’m a progressive.

    McLovin complains about paying taxes…

    http://www.browardbeat.com/hollywood-to-explore-joining-sheriffs-empire/#comment-1321961

    …whereas I forcefully support raising taxes:

    http://www.browardbeat.com/fields-not-a-stadium-ripoff-again/#comment-1196350

    http://www.browardbeat.com/fields-not-a-stadium-ripoff-again/#comment-1197757

    http://www.browardbeat.com/fields-not-a-stadium-ripoff-again/#comment-1198161

    http://www.browardbeat.com/fields-not-a-stadium-ripoff-again/#comment-1202705