Drew Wilson
A proposed constitutional amendment to ban assault weapons has turned in about 43,000 petition signatures to get on the 2020 ballot.
The amendment, sponsored by Ban Assault Weapons NOW, would ban “semiautomatic rifles and shotguns capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition at once.”
According to the Florida Division of Elections, 42,941 voter petitions have been confirmed as of Thursday afternoon.
Ballot amendments must gather 76,632 petitions to trigger a Florida Supreme Court review and need 766,200 in all in order to make the ballot.
If it makes the 2020 ballot, it would need to earn approval from 60 percent of voters to pass.
BAWN’s petition efforts have been helped along by some family members of those killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting.
Campaign finance reports also show the committee had raised about $821,000 through the end of March, with much of that cash being directed to petition gathering efforts.
At the beginning of last month, the political committee had about $177,000 in the bank.
9 comments
Ken Willey
May 9, 2019 at 11:37 pm
The text of this amendment would ban nearly every semiautomatic rifle. It would go so far as to label the first commercially available .22 caliber rifle an assault weapon. Ironically it won’t have any effect on the compact AR-15s and AK-47s that meet the legal definition of a handgun.
Bryan Jestis
May 10, 2019 at 12:23 pm
This Initiative is so much dreck. My hope is that people see this for what it really is, an effort by Bloomberg to effect Florida politics. We don’t need outsiders deciding what’s good for us. Bloomberg needs to stay in NY and tend to his own business.
Joseph M Owens
May 10, 2019 at 12:42 pm
43,000 dilusional idiots that would not know the difference between an AR 15 and a 243. You can’t fix stupid, and that is what you are seeing here.
Diablo
May 10, 2019 at 1:55 pm
Time to start showing these idiots that their twisted belief in true democracy works both ways. There is a reason we are a republic; it protects everyone including the minority by having laws based on reason and not feelings to avoid mob rule.
I think a few counter petitions are needed for the ballot. Let’s introduce these for starters……
1st Voting age to 21…..same as gun
2nd Politician needs background check and mental health check….same as they push for gun owners
3rd Background check and approved ID for all voters….same as gun owners need for a Constitutional Right
4th Background checks on all reporters and people looking to protest
5th Raise age for abortion to 21 and require a mental health evaluation.
Why do we allow maggots to trample gun rights?
I am not for any of the above actions but would endorse them all to drive home the point…… Don’t Tread on Me Mutha Fบ€kers!
Tim lubbers
May 10, 2019 at 3:16 pm
If you can’t have a gun until 21, and can’t smoke until your 21 then;
You can’t vote till 21…
You can’t get an abortion till 21…
You can’t drive till 21…
You can’t be in the military till 21…
You can’t be a cop until 21…
All of these are potentially life and death dealing items, and if you are not able to do one, then you are not able to do any…
Also, there needs to be (federal law) laws made to set forth exact requirements for a gun to be considered an assault weapon vs. guns accepted for all people under the 2A…
Raif Olson
May 10, 2019 at 5:46 pm
Subjugating the rights of free people does bot make a single soul safer. Apparently they are unaware that the precious AWB had no effect. I wonder how they feel about the 3+ million lives saved by a firearm every year?
Justin Xie
May 10, 2019 at 7:36 pm
The definition they came up with is likely easier to take down in courts since it extends far beyond AK and AR rifles. It essentially says that Ruger 10/22, Remington Speedmaster 552, Browning BAR, Ruger PC Carbine, etc… are military rifles when they are common rifles chosen for legal purpose such as target shooting and hunting. The courts could use this to destroy the ban all together. Furthermore, the Duncan v. Becerra case could also be used to destroy the ban since it is limiting the capacity of fixed magazines if the case gets to SCOTUS. Overall this isn’t a good idea since it overreaches and ultimately doesn’t solve the underlying issue that it is too easy for crazy people to buy any type of firearm in Florida in general.
Dane Swearingen
May 11, 2019 at 2:38 pm
As per Thoughtco.com and their sources there approximately 340,000 registered gun owners in the state of FL 2nd only to Cali and 3rd to the largest TX with over 500,000. Keeping in mind that these numbers are always fluctuating. This is as close as they can get to being exact. So you have this petition to ban so called “Assault rifles” which truth be told would encompass much more then that type of rifle but don’t worry I’m sure they won’t tell about that part. So they correctly have approx 43’000 signatures of the 76,632 needed to get this on the FSC to consider it for the ballot and even if they manage to do that it means come election time they should have at least 76,000 votes for it. That means they would have to go up against 340,000 registered gun owners assuming they all voted and that’s not counting the gun owners that have unregistered guns that will vote a just people with common sense that would vote against such a law. Now I’m not saying it couldn’t happen but if I were a betting man I can tell what my money is on.
The Rich Logis Show
May 12, 2019 at 12:43 am
Every American who is legally able to own an AR-15 should purchase one; this is how we use our wallets to take a Constitutional stand.
Gun violence is worse in Democrat-run cities and counties, compared to anywhere else in America.
To end the plague of gun violence:
✅Oust Democrats in cities they’ve ruled for tens of thousands of consecutive days;
✅Re-educate our youth, to prevent or reverse Democrat social engineering.
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