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Politics

State Lawmakers File Bill Restricting Gun Access for 'At-Risk' Floridians

October 5, 2017 - 1:45pm
Audrey Gibson and Lori Berman
Audrey Gibson and Lori Berman

Two Democratic lawmakers are filing bills to curb gun violence in the Sunshine State following the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. 

Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, and Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, said Thursday they would file bills to temporarily prevent people with a high risk of harming themselves or others from accessing firearms.

A 27-page proposal, HB 231 would allow families or household members to obtain a court order restricting people from obtaining weapons if they pose a “significant danger” to themselves or others.

Examples of a danger could include mental health crises or violent behavior, according to a press release sent Thursday. 

If passed, the “protective order” would cancel out concealed carry permits and would prohibit filing a petition to lift the order with misleading or false statements.

Court orders are not intended to be permanent -- firearms would be returned to owners upon the termination of the protective order.

According to the bill, the aim of the legislation is to “reduce gun deaths and injuries while respecting constitutional rights.”

The Senate measure has yet to receive a bill number. 

Berman and Gibson introduced the bill following a mass shooting in Las Vegas Sunday evening which left 59 dead and more than 500 injured. A motive for the shooting has not yet been discovered.
 
“It is critical to address senseless gun deaths that now seem to be more the norm than a rarity,” said Sen. Gibson Thursday. “This bill is designed to remove from harm’s way individuals who are at high risk of harming themselves or others through an act of gun violence.”

Rep. Berman said the legislation was spurred from the massacre in Las Vegas on Sunday which left 59 people dead and more than 500 injured. 
 
“It is more important than ever that we address how to limit gun violence,” Berman said. “This bill provides a mechanism for family or household members and law enforcement to stop bad actors before tragedy happens.”

Gibson and Berman aren’t the only Florida lawmakers looking to curb gun violence through legislation.

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Miami, said Thursday he plans to introduce legislation within the next day or two to ban bump stocks nationwide.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a bill in the Senate Wednesday to ban bump stocks and similar devices, and it’s likely her bill and Curbelo’s will gather bipartisan support in the coming weeks.
 
Curbelo will cosponsor the bill with Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts.
 
Even the White House said it was open to considering restrictions on bump stocks moving forward. 
 
“We always welcome a thoughtful conversation on policy and issues,” said White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Fox & Friends on Thursday. “The Second Amendment is a bedrock in our Constitution along with the First Amendment. These rights must be protected, but … I know this is something that many legislators have been telling us and I read publicly that they have never even heard of the device before. And they are in Congress. So, many of them are open to a conversation.”
 
 
 

Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.


READ MORE FROM SUNSHINE STATE NEWS

Carlos Curbelo to Push Bipartisan Ban on Bump Stocks

Post-Las Vegas Massacre, Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates Renew Calls for Gun Control

Comments

Dear RGB.... Be nice if you wanted to concentrate on not letting kids eat lead paint chips or drink stuff from under the kitchen counter. Horrible stuff like this always gets all the press since the press at this point is nothing but the political arm of the wacko antifa left. Why don't you concentrate on stopping texting and driving? Not speeding? Assholes doing 90mh damage and kill a lot more people than one deranged person with a gun, no matter how much carnage he creates. Be careful RGB there is danger lurking everywhere. How much you going to contribute to making us all safe from accidents, misfortune, bad luck and stupidity. You don't hear a word from the wacko press about young negro's in Chicago shooting each other at a rate of 3,500 annually. Fortunately they only have a kill rate of 700-800. Lot more than this deranged person in Vegas. I believe that their kill rate would improve but for the fact that it is hard to be accurate when you are firing a weapon for the first time - having stolen it last night - while you are running away. Over your shoulder. We have a bunch of problems RGB and scumsucking self serving politician

Regulating the weapons and accessories still won't keep the items out of the hands of the determined. Education is a start for everyone. Enforcing existing rule too. Being able to keep weapons out out of the hands of people on prescription and recreational drugs must also be addressed and of course those unstable persons. We need to be careful as to how labels are attached, because the downstream impacts of the labels will be the next problem.

So much "HOT AIR" from hardly known politicians who do nothing more than "butt-polish" their political "seats" for their entire terms !

Two silly women wasting our time and money on meaningless nonsense. All the arguments pro and con have been made. Ad infinitum. We shouldn't let crazy people do hardly anything. Think most of us agree on that. We shouldn't beat children or animals. We should be nice to our neighbors. Hell, ya come right down to it we shouldn't covet our neighbors wife. You know, the Ten Commandments stuff that the wacko liberal left have spent the last 20 years trying to abolish. Just hard to believe that witless nincompoops like this represent anyone.

Grandstanding waste of time.

Comments are now closed.

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