June 11, 2018 - 1:15pm
Anti-gun activists are falsely stating that Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who is running for governor with a strong NRA rating, let thousands of people buy guns illegally while in charge of the Department of Agriculture.
It is false. This failure of an employee did not allow a single gun purchase. It was about allowing licenses to carry concealed weapons.
Anti-gun activists should be ashamed of themselves for promoting fake news. Putnam had less direct management of the neglectful employee than, say, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, when an iPhone is sold with a bad screen. True, when something goes wrong, we all tend to ask: “Who is in charge here?” Yet, isn’t there more to be seen in this instance? Leadership doesn’t mean everything in the ranks will run as it should all the time; but true leadership does resolve problems when they surface.
Let’s further examine the facts of the case and what happened:
1. An employee of the Department of Agriculture failed to do her job over the course of one year, which was to review 365 applications to carry a concealed firearm that were "red flagged.”
2. The employee never alerted her manager or anyone else that she couldn't log in or that she wasn't doing her job for a year.
3. When this was discovered, action was taken and the employee was immediately terminated for neglecting to do her job.
4. When the Department of Agriculture found out about the failure of one its employees to review the concealed-carry applications, it immediately reviewed the 365 applications. This resulted in the suspension of 291 of the licenses.
5. Not one of the 291 people issued concealed permits were any more able to purchase a firearm with the license, because a concealed weapons permit neither grants nor gives the ability to purchase a firearm.
6. Adam Putnam's office did not have any direct management concerning the neglectful employee.
What is real in this instance is the attack on the Second Amendment to make citizens defenseless. Criminals and the mentally insane will never follow laws. We must not leave ourselves unprotected against them.
According to statistics from Florida State University's renown criminologist Dr. Gary Kleck, a gun is used for protection over two million times every year. The concealed-carry gun laws in Florida make criminals think twice before committing crimes. Citizens need to wake up and realize that the Liberal Left will do anything to take away your gun rights.
Unfortunately, we can’t count on our police to fully protect us. The Parkland school shooting is an example in which the FBI and local law enforcement were alerted over 30 times that this person was a danger. The Texas church shooting was stopped by an armed citizen, and an armed guard stopped a recent school shooting in Maryland.
America was founded on the idea of people being able to “pursue happiness,” and that includes the security of onesself and one’s property. It is why our wise Founding Fathers included the “right to bear arms" as a constitutional and irrevocable right for all. If our Second Amendment rights are infringed upon, we should logically assume that all of our rights can be erased by our government to “protect us.”
Together we stand and we will not fall for fake news prompting infringement of our rights.
Everett Wilkinson is chair of the National Liberty Federation.
Comments
"It is why our wise Founding
The same for Desantis, the
what if they already had
This was about carrying
If they are red flagged for
Not so. All of my Firearms
If they had them already when
Not once was jihad mentioned
correction
Heck, former AG Eric Holder
knew it wouldn't take long to
Nope. He did not say it was
Everything rises and falls on
only a true wingnut would
Only an elitist leftist would
I'm sure most of your trailer
Long Live King TRUMP
the supreme dictator...
Wow, you libtards are so
must be all the fake news..
It has to be ALLLLLLL that
It doesn't matter whether
That is so true!
Keep digging that NRA hole
Hahahaha!
In your dreams.
Send Putnam to D.C. and get
Yeah, so's Nelson. You voting
Putnam did nothing... This
According to the TB Times?
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