Gov. Rick Scott shot down a request by Tampa City Council members to alter the states gun law for the city downtown when the Republican National Convention comes to town this August.
While the city has the ability on its own to temporarily ban water guns, sticks and poles, Scott stated that firearm possession is covered by Article I, Section 8 of the Florida Constitution and the Second Amendment.
"The choice to allow the government to ban sticks and poles, but not firearms, is one that the people made in enacting their state and federal constitutions," Scott wrote Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
"Like you, I share the concern that 'violent, anti-government protests or other civil unrest' can pose 'dangers' and the 'threat of substantial injury or harm to Florida residents and visitors of the state," Scott wrote.
"But It is unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law. It is at just such times that the constitutional right to self-defense is most precious and must be protected from government overreach.
With the GOP convention set for the city from Aug. 27 to Aug. 30, the city has sought a pre-emption from a state law that threatens officials with fines or a loss of office if they seek to impose rules that supersede the state laws on possession of licensed concealed guns.
City officials have noted that the governor can suspend gun laws using the same executive-order powers that allow him to ban the sale of alcohol during a state of emergency.
In his two-page letter to the governor, Buckhorn had argued, "Normally, licensed firearms carried in accordance with the Florida statute requirements do not pose a significant threat to the public.
"However, in the potentially contentious environment surrounding the RNC, a firearm unnecessarily increases the threat of imminent harm and injury to the residents and visitors of the city."
Scott noted that the security plan will ban firearms in the convention center and a safe zone established by the Secret Service.
We have had political conventions in this country since the dawn of the republic, Scott wrote. They are an essential means of furthering our constitutional rights to free speech and to vote. Our fundamental right to keep and bear arms has coexisted with those freedoms for just as long, and I see no reason to depart from that tradition this year.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
