Month: October 2012

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was presented at the Republican National Convention as one of the fresh, new faces of the Republican Party. Her office has been diligently fighting Obamacare. Wonderful, great. So, why does she have to go and prove that the Republicans take the gun-rights vote for granted as much as the Democrats take the black vote.

Apparently because I decide to carry a gun, I am 95% likely to be a criminal. Robb Allen has a great write-up here.

According to AG Bondi:

[A]n overwhelming majority of Floridians are not licensed to carry concealed weapons. As of August 31, 2012, the number of concealed weapon or firearm permits issued in Florida is 971,263. Where Florida had an estimated population of 19,057,542 in 2011, the percentage of the population that is licensed to carry a concealed weapon is only five percent (5%). Given the small percentage of the population that is licensed to carry a concealed firearm, the overwhelming majority of firearms, or 95%, are not licensed to be concealed. Thus, an officer’s suspicion that a firearm is not licensed would be reasonable because, in any given case, there would be, statistically speaking, a 95% likelihood of illegality.
State’s Brief on the Merits, Mackey v. State SC12-573 (Fla 2012) (internal citations omitted, emphasis added)

When I read this, I was incensed, to put it lightly. I wanted to foreswear voting for this woman in any capacity. Then, I calmed down and thought back to one of the gems that I picked up at the Gun Rights Policy Conference. We know that many people are ignorant of firearms and the gun community. So why should we expect the politicians to be any different? We should at least try to educate them before rallying our forces to lay siege.

Thankfully, we have Florida Carry.

The rights of Floridians to keep and bear arms are well recognized in the U.S. and Florida Constitutions as well as in Florida general law. To allow detentions and arrests based solely on a person’s possession of a firearm without more, and then to require a person to prove through an affirmative defense that their possession of the firearm was lawful would swallow whole the right. As inconvenient as it might be, the need for enforcement of firearms laws preventing carrying by the unlawful and unskilled, must sometimes give way to the God-given right of the people to both lawfully keep and bear arms, and be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
…
The state’s position can be summed up that in order for a citizen to exercise their right under the 2nd Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I Sec. 8 of the Florida Constitution, the citizen must give up their rights under the Fourth Amendment, to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. According to the Attorney General, persons in possession of a firearm should be presumed to be committing a crime, and should be required to prove before a court of law that their conduct is in fact lawful.Should the Court find in the State’s favor in this case, this would be the first time in American jurisprudence that the exercise of a fundamental individual right has required the abdication of another fundamental right.
Amicus Curiae Florida Carry, inc.’s Brief in Support of Appellant, Mackey v. State SC12-573 (Fla 2012) (emphasis added)

If you live in the state of Florida and have not joined Florida Carry, why not?