Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
A pair of controversial gun bills in the Florida Senate will not be discussed during committee meetings next week
According to the Senate calendar, a Judiciary Committee meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday has been cancelled. The committee, which is chaired by Sen. Greg Steube, was set to take up two gun bills during the two-hour meeting.
Steube’s open carry bill — Senate Bill 140 — was one of the two bills scheduled to be discussed. Under that proposal, concealed carry permit holders would be allowed to openly carry a handgun.
Senate President Joe Negron cancelled the meeting at Steube’s request, spokeswoman Katie Betta said.
“Sen. (Rene) Garcia indicated that he would need to request an excused absence from the meeting,” she said. “It is still very early in the committee process and Chair Steube felt it was important to postpone the meeting until all committee members could be present.”
It’s unclear whether either measure has the votes needed to get out its first committee of reference. The committee’s four Democrats will likely vote against the open carry measure, and could be joined by Garcia and Sen. Anitere Flores, both South Florida Republicans who have been skeptical of the legislation.
Similar gun legislation failed to make any progress in the Florida Senate last year. Former Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, who served as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 2014-16 term, blocked several gun proposals from being heard in his committee.
The Judiciary Committee is often the first committee of reference for gun legislation.
A second bill — Senate Bill 128, sponsored by Sen. Rob Bradley — was also on the agenda. That bill aims to clarify that prosecutors have the burden of proving that shootings are unjustified under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law.
The Fleming Island Republican said in December that the measure would overturn overturn the Florida Supreme Court ruling in Bretherick v. Florida. In the 2015 opinion, the court said people charged in shootings must prove during pretrial proceedings that they are entitled to immunity from prosecution.
Bradley proposed similar legislation in 2016. It passed the Senate, but failed to make any progress in the House.
