ORLANDO – In a time in which gun violence has reached critical mass – including but not limited to the Pulse massacre on the night of June 12 – two recently elected legislators are looking to do something about the scourge of assault weapons. On Jan. 5, State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith and State Sen. Linda Stewart took to the steps of the Orange County Courthouse to introduce their companion bills, HB 167 and SB 254, each designed to limit the availability of assault weapons in Florida.
“I am proud to stand with everyone that I see here today to act. I look forward to seeing you in Tallahassee. If you think it’s going to be easy, it’s not. But we will need all of you there behind us, helping us.” Florida Senator-elect Linda Stewart said.
It will be difficult, especially considering the Democratic Party minority in the legislature is being faced down by an increasingly gun-supporting Republican Party that has long been backed by the National Rifle Association. That side of the aisle is seeking a huge expansion of gun rights, including open carry, campus carry, and allowing guns in airport terminals.
“We have a responsibility to act,” Stewart said, flanked by Smith, the Florida Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, the League of Women Voters, among other organizing groups. “If not now, when?”
Both companion bills specify (at length) the assault weapons the pair hopes to take on in the March legislative session, including the ammunition (or magazines) that lead to quick-fire opportunities.
“Any person who, within this state, distributes, transports, or imports into the state, sells, keeps for sale or offers or exposes for sale, or who gives any assault weapon or large capacity ammunition … commits a felony of the third degree,” the text reads.
Smith’s bill mirrors the extensive attempt.
“Why can the gun manufacturers do this? Because we let them. No more,” he said, defiantly. “After 20 children were murdered in their first-grade classroom at Sandy Hook by a deranged, non-Muslim domestic terrorist using the Bush Master XM 15, leaders in Connecticut, they came together. They came together to help the Newtown community rebuild, their legislature also took bold action and sent the governor a sweeping ban on assault weapons and magazines which he signed into law. It was the right thing to do. They did it to protect their citizens from another mass shooting. And it’s time for Florida to do the same.”
In an effort to understand the appeal of assault weapons for civilians, Smith put the word out on Facebook that he was looking for a range at which to fire one. It apparently worked.
“Recently, I had the opportunity to fire an assault weapon for myself, the same weapon of mass destruction that was used to murder our 49 friends at Pulse,” he said on Jan. 5.
He then apologized for being graphic, but explained that he really wanted the point to be made: Nobody in civilian life needs an assault weapon.
“This bill is about fighting for the safety of our friends and our communities,” he said. “We are fighting for our 49 friends who didn’t deserve to die. We are Orlando United. We are unapologetic in our demands for bold action from our elected leaders. We will not be intimidated or discouraged by the lack of logic or reason from our opponents. This is our fight. We are not going anywhere.”
