With the NRA lobbyist standing by and gazing fondly at Jeb!’s piece, a simple stroke ushered in a new era of personal responsibility, namely the responsibility to shoot first, ’cause the other guy might be armed too.
Floridians will have the right to shoot in self-defense anywhere they feel threatened under a bill Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law Tuesday, but critics fear it will encourage people to fight to the death rather than seek safety.
Bush signed the bill (SB 436), passed unanimously in the Senate and overwhelmingly in the House, as the National Rifle Association’s Florida lobbyist, Marion Hammer, looked over his shoulder.
The law, which takes effect Oct. 1, is the latest victory in a state already counted as one of the friendliest to gun owners.
Floridians already have the right to carry concealed weapons and can circumvent background checks when buying weapons at gun shows. The state also has reciprocal agreements honoring gun-toting citizens’ concealed weapons permits from other states.
Bush signed the reciprocity bill into law, also with Hammer by his side, on April 20, 1999, the same day that two Columbine, Colo., high school students went on a shooting spree, killing 12 classmates and a teacher and injuring nearly two dozen others before taking their own lives.
……The bill’s House sponsor, Ocala Republican Dennis Baxley, said the law brings Florida into line with other states, fewer than a dozen of which have “duty to retreat” laws on the books. Baxley and the Senate sponsor, Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, also were in Bush’s office when he signed the bill.
“We’re not breaking any new ground here,” Baxley said. “We’re catching up.”
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said the law is the “first step of a multi-state strategy” that he hopes can capitalize on a political climate dominated by conservative opponents of gun control at the state and national levels.
……But in an era of road rage and hot tempers, and in a state with a violent crime rate second only to South Carolina, it’s easy to envision a scenario where force rapidly escalates, said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, one of 19 members who opposed the bill.
“Two people in an altercation, that happens every day. Someone thinks you’re looking at their wife the wrong way, somebody spills coffee on you, someone bumps into you, someone cuts you off, then all of a sudden they’re in a fight,” said Gelber, a former federal prosecutor. “Do we tell those people that they’re supposed to walk away or do we tell them that you’re supposed to stand your ground and fight to the death?”
No one has ever been prosecuted in Florida for lawfully defending themselves, Gelber said.
It’s heartening to learn that Florida is catching up to the rest of the nation by being the first. Maybe we’re getting ready to lap those other states?