Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Assault weapons ban misses deadline for Florida’s 2020 ballot
Tampa Bay Times ^ | 2/1/20 | Lawrence Mower

Posted on 02/03/2020 6:57:41 PM PST by Impala64ssa

Florida voters won’t get a chance to vote this fall on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban assault weapons after the initiative failed to get enough signatures.

Instead, the organizers behind Ban Assault Weapons Now say they’ll focus on getting the amendment on the ballot in 2022.

Chairwoman Gail Schwartz said in a statement that they’ll continue gathering signatures “despite the best efforts of the NRA and politicians in Tallahassee.”

“Hundreds of thousands of Floridians from all across the state are behind this critical movement and it’s up to us to make sure we succeed where our so-called ‘leaders’ have repeatedly failed,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz’s nephew, Alex Schachter, was killed by a former classmate wielding an assault rifle in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School In Parkland.

To make it on the November ballot, organizers had to gather 766,200 verified signatures by today. The organizers fell well short with just 147,304, according to the Secretary of State.

The amendment would ban the sale of “semiautomatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition at once, either in fixed or detachable magazine, or any other ammunition-feeding device.”

Current owners of assault rifles would have to register them with the state within a year and would not be allowed to sell them.

But it was met with stiff resistance by the National Rifle Association and Attorney General Ashley Moody, who said the amendment was “deceitful and misleading.”

She said last year that the amendment was too broad and would have made illegal many weapons that some people would not consider an “assault weapon.”

“It is so far-reaching and misleading, it would also include guns like the gun my grandfather gave my father and his brother when they were 9 and 10, 60 years ago,” she said in August.

The language in the amendment was crafted with the help of a lifelong NRA member, who told the Times/Herald last year that Moody’s interpretation was “complete nonsense.”

Although it won’t be on the ballot this fall, lawyers for the amendment still plan on arguing the case before the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday. The justices have to approve amendments before they go on the ballot. Moody’s office is expected to argue the amendment is too broad and vague to go before voters.

Voters this fall also won’t get to vote on an amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana, which also failed to get enough signatures.

The two proposed amendments that have been approved would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and change the wording of the constitution regarding the citizenship of voters.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; ballot; banglist; election; florida; nra; secondamendment
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-30 last
To: NFHale

They’re just trying to peel the weak out of the herd. When we turn and put out the horns they back away. They don’t want a hard fight.


21 posted on 02/03/2020 8:15:26 PM PST by Equine1952
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Impala64ssa; carriage_hill
The sweet sound of defeat.

Only thing sweeter is the sound of reloading after neutralizing the threat.

22 posted on 02/03/2020 9:21:39 PM PST by lightman (The Millenials are asleep in their "wokeness".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impala64ssa

Is Florida turning around re significant Democrat majorities in certain cities/areas/counties?


23 posted on 02/03/2020 9:53:33 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impala64ssa
"...with just 147,304, ..."

OK... Now, how about a taste of their own medicine... Release the names and addresses of all 147,304 signatories... /s

24 posted on 02/03/2020 9:54:54 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is Sam Adams now that we desperately need him)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impala64ssa

How about A Peppers weapon ban?


25 posted on 02/04/2020 1:25:20 AM PST by jdsteel (Americans are Dreamers too!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impala64ssa; JulieRNR21; kinganamort; katherineisgreat; floriduh voter; summer; Goldwater Girl; ...

Florida Freeper


26 posted on 02/04/2020 7:36:57 AM PST by Joe Brower ("Might we not live in a nobler dream than this?" -- John Ruskin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Impala64ssa
John Morgan will take it up in 2022. If you live in Florida, you are about to have a knock down drag out bar room brawl on your hands when it comes to keeping what few freedoms we still have. Actually, we all have that problem, but 99 and 99/100ths of those who claim to be Conservatives deny it.

The people in Virginia finally woke up. The people in other States should heed the lesson they learned and not suffer their fate.

27 posted on 02/04/2020 7:56:38 AM PST by sport
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Luke21

It is sad. Read the last sentence very carefully and slowly. There is a hook in it.


28 posted on 02/04/2020 8:01:15 AM PST by sport
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: b4me

Every thing a Leftists does is by design. Every move that make, every word they utter has a political connotation. Even going to the toilet and have a bowel movement. Their entire being revolves around controlling, killing, and enslaving their fellow man.


29 posted on 02/04/2020 8:09:56 AM PST by sport
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: lightman

Exactly.

Peace is that brief glorious moment in history,
when everybody stands around reloading.


30 posted on 02/04/2020 9:48:00 AM PST by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-30 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson