James Call| Capital Bureau | USA TODAY Network – Florida
Astark difference in how Florida Democrats and Republicans balance gun rights with public safety is shown in bills filed for the 2024 regular session of the Florida Legislature, which begins Jan 9.
The 10 firearms-related proposals include one that aims to repeal the landmark Stand Your Ground law that earned Florida the “Gunshine State” nickname.It's almost guaranteed to be ignored by the GOP supermajority that controls both chambers in Tallahassee.
Another Republican-backed bill inserts a loophole in the background check requirement for firearm purchases imposed after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Broward County. It would enable a buyer to take possession of a gun without a law enforcement check of disqualifying conditions.
The proposals come in a year where there have been 29 mass shootings in Florida, according to the Gun Violence Archive. That organization defines a mass shooting as when there are a minimum of four victims, excluding the shooter, who have been either injured or killed by gunfire.
The Florida count as of Nov. 29 included a March 1 shooting in Cocoa Beach that claimed four lives, and one on Oct. 29 in Tampa in which a 14-year-old and 20-year-old were killed.
As an example of the divide, Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, wants to extend background checks to ammunition. It’s the third consecutive year she has filed a version of “Jaime’s Law,” named for a Parkland victim.
On the other hand, Rep. Joel Rudman, R-Navarre, wants to impose a deadline on law enforcement to complete the background investigation on the purchase of a firearms.His measure (HB 17) would provide law enforcement three business days to clear a firearm purchase.
“Anytime you give a government agency all the time in the world to complete a simple task, guess how long that simple task takes? It takes all the time in the world,” Rudman said about the no-deadline schedule given to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to complete checks.
He counts over 500 constituents who said they waited more than six months for permission to take possession of firearms they had purchased, some waiting for two years for the check to be completed.
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Rudman said 98% of checks were completed within three days in 2017, before the current system was imposed. “I'm trying to restore some sanity to the process,” said Rudman, who called his bill a common sense solution to the delays Floridians experience when buying a gun.
“We've got to setwhat we call a shot clock on the background (checks). Don't tell me you can't complete an adequate background check with today's technology inthree business days," Rudman said.
Polsky seemingly simmers with frustration when she compares what she considers sensible gun policy with what Rudman proposes, and how the GOP supermajority controls which bills get heard in the Legislature.
For five years, Polsky has filed proposals regulating how and who can sell firearms and bullets, and mandating safe storage requirements for guns and ammunition – all of which haven't gotten a committee hearing, she said.
"You want to talk about common sense?" Polsky said. "Common sense is you own a deadly instrument and you need to take responsibility like you do with a car.
"A car requires license, guns don't," she added. "Cars require training and testing (to operate) a gun doesn't. This little piece of metal, a gun, has more rights than I do."
Polsky now has filed four bills for the 2024 session that regulate how guns and ammunition are sold and transferred, and that mandate safe storage of firearms and bullets. And she doesn’t expect any of her those to be called up in committees.
“I know they are not going to be heard,” Polsky told the USA TODAY Network. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t try to do everything in our power to make our world safer.”
Gun Owners of America, a national gun rights group which claims two million members, endorses Rudman's bill and opposes Polsky's proposal, but dismisses both parties' 2024 gun packages as election-year posturing.
Luis Valdes, the group's Florida director, wants lawmakers to legalize open carry, repeal gun-free zones and red flag laws, and allow for the purchase of firearms at the age of 18 and questions GOP support for "full restoration" of Second Amendment rights.
"Why is it that, under a Republican supermajority, real pro-gun bills are not advancing?" Valdes asked.
"Florida's Democrats have no problem introducing bills that ban guns, expand gun-free zones, make everything require a background check, and be kept locked up. But it appears that Republicans are scared to do what their counterparts have done in other Republican(-controlled) states."
Ten gun proposals filed for 2024 session of Florida Legislature
HB 17: Rep. Joel Rudman, R-Navarre, wants to establish what he calls a “three-day shot clock” that will limit the waiting period for a firearms purchase to three business days. This would allow a buyer to acquire a firearm whether or not a mandatory background check has been completed.
SB 96: Filed by Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, the "Self-Defense Restoration Act" would effectively repeal Florida’s landmark “Stand Your Ground” law and prohibit the use of deadly force when a person can safely retreat without the use of force.
SB 130/HB 209: Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, and Rep. Michelle Rayner, D-St. Petersburg, want to ban guns from buildings, facilities and programs funded by a government entity, including playgrounds, hospitals, residential facilities and libraries.
HB 279/SB 15: Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, and Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, propose a ban on the sale or transfer of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine. The proposed ban covers 15 weapons in the AR series, 21 in the AK series, and 40 other specific assault weapons and magazines.
SB 176: Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Fort Lauderdale would revise regulations for the safe storage of firearms to make it a criminal offense for a minor not to properly secure and store a firearm.
SB 180/HB 145; SB 182/HB 155: The two proposals from Rep. Dan Daley, D-Fort Lauderdale, and Polsky would establish "Jaime's Law," named for Jaime Guttenberg, one of the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. SB 180/HB 145 imposes a background check for the purchase of ammunition; SB 182/HB 145 is a public records exemption for people who made a legal purchase.
SB 206/HB 489: Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, and Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, want to clarify that a minor must have been adjudicated delinquent of an offense that would be a felony if committed by an adult to lose the right to possess a firearm, ammunition, electric weapon and carry a concealed weapon.
HB 259/SB 270: Rep. Katherine Waldron, D-Wellington, filed a stray bullet bill that makes it a first-degree misdemeanor when a target shooter’s bullets leave the confines of their property.
SB 518/HB 291: Polsky and Rep. Christine Hunshofsky, D-Parkland, want stricter requirements for background checks on purchases, and the safe storage of firearms, along with a mandate that all firearm sales and transfers be conducted by and processed through a licensed dealer.
HB 485: Rep. Robbie Brackett, R-Vero Beach, would require the county sheriff or local police chief to return to a suspect upon request any weapon confiscated during an arrest. The measure prohibits law enforcement from requesting a court order to release weapons.
To read the bills listed above, go to the Florida Senate and Florida House websites.
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com and is on X as @CallTallahassee.
