Florida –-(Ammoland.com)- SB-646 Open Carry and SB-616 Courthouse Carry by Sen. Greg Steube were both scheduled to be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, between 4:00-6:00pm.
However, when SB-616, the first of the two bills came up, committee member Sen. Anitere Flores conducted questioning of the Chairman and bill sponsor, Greg Steube, and then made her anti-gun statement declaring her intentions regarding pro-gun bills.
That bill subsequently passed 5-4 and the other 3 other progun bills on the committee agenda were temporarily passed over and not brought to a vote.
Many in the media are now suggesting that all pro-gun bill are now dead for the year.
My phone and email have been blowing up with questions and we hope the following helps you understand where we are.
Not wishing to leave you with our view of what Sen. Flores said, below is a link to her antigun statement. Below that is a “victory” photo of her with the Florida leader of Bloomberg’s “Moms Demand Action.”
Here’s the link to what many are calling the Flores “State of the Senate” speech in Judiciary Committee yesterday. The link to the photo Michelle Gajda, the Florida leader of Bloomberg’s “Moms Demand Action” anti-gun group posted this after the hearing
A reporter questioned me about what happen and these are my responses:
“I cannot tell you why Sen. Flores suddenly turned on law-abiding gun owners because I do not know. (Until yesterday she had a 100% rating with NRA and USF)
I cannot tell you if Sen. Flores was acting on her own behalf or on behalf of the Senate President or Senate Leadership because I do not know.
I cannot tell you whether or not she has the power to kill all pro-gun bills and not allow the Senate to vote on them because I do not know. But — as the old saying goes — “it ain’t over ’till it’s over,” and this is only Day 2 of the 2017 Legislative session.
And finally, am I giving up for this session? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I represent law-abiding gun owners statewide and they depend on me to fight for them and I will.”
About Unified Sportsmen of Florida (USF)
Organized in 1976, with the assistance of the National Rifle Association, Unified Sportsmen of Florida (USF) is a non-profit membership organization incorporated under the laws of Florida. Affiliated with NRA as the Florida Legislative affiliate, USF is an independent organization dependent on membership dues and contributions for financial support. Unified Sportsmen of Florida was organized for the purpose of protecting the firearms rights of all law-abiding firearms owners in Florida and to preserve the firearms rights guaranteed in the United States and Florida Constitutions.