A.G. Gancarski
On Monday, Broward County Democratic state Sen. Gary Farmer, Jr. filed a bill that would tighten requirements on safely storing loaded firearms.
Senate Bill 142 “[revises] the locations and circumstances in which a loaded firearm is required to be kept or secured with a trigger lock … [deleting] provisions relating to conditions for committing the crime of failing to safely store, leave, or secure a loaded firearm in a specified manner.”
Among the “locations and circumstances” revised: storage of a firearm around a “minor,” which the bill defines as someone 16 years of age or younger.
Going forward, the gun should be kept in a “securely locked box or container” or secured with a trigger lock.
Violations of those conditions would result in a second-degree misdemeanor.
The bill would also require foster parents and those running residential child care facilities to acknowledge the measure in writing.
Marion Hammer, Executive Director of United Sportsmen of Florida and a former National Rifle Association president, contended that Farmer’s concerns were misplaced.
“If Sen. Farmer really wanted to do something to make Florida safe, he would focus on abolishing gun-free-zones where law-abiding citizens are defenseless targets of terrorists and people with mental illness,” Hammer wrote in a message to FloridaPolitics.com.
