Phil Ammann
As the saying goes: “even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.”
In a new email, Democratic Senate District 29 candidate Gary Farmer praises the Florida Legislature for “getting it right this time” on gun laws, and not giving in to the powerful National Rifle Association.
“It doesn’t happen often in Florida: The NRA actually didn’t get what they wanted from the Republican controlled legislature,” writes Farmer, a consumer advocate attorney.
The House rejected Tuesday an effort to loosen the state’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” self-defense laws, in what Farmer calls a “surprising, but laudable,” vote.
“You know it’s a bad gun bill when even the Republicans oppose it,” he notes.
Farmer sees this latest move as the first step toward “sane and reasonable gun safety laws” in Florida. He suggests the same pressure be applied in the current effort to allow guns on college campuses.
Guns are a serious issue for Farmer and many like-minded Floridians who understand that in the chaos of hurricanes like Andrew or Wilma, law enforcement may not be readily available. But loosening the state’s gun laws — especially during times without a declared emergency — results in what Farmer says was “more than three times the deaths of those who died in 9/11.”
Farmer then calls for similar “voices of common sense” in the Senate, which he also hopes to bring to the Florida Capitol in 2016.
And if he is successful, perhaps the “blind squirrels” in Tallahassee will find a few more of those nuts.
