Ryan Nicol
Democrats have long had issues with a state law preempting gun regulation at the local level. A new measure from state Rep. Cindy Polo would seek to add an exception for that preemption for regulations regarding municipally-owned land.
Polo, a Hialeah Democrat, filed the bill (HB 885) earlier this week. Fellow Democratic state Rep. Javier Fernández is listed as a co-sponsor.
State law bars local governments from passing gun control measures that are more restrictive than those approved by the state Legislature.
But that statute also has several exceptions where the preemption does not apply. For example, state law does not bar a court from hearing a case which may otherwise violate the preemption. It also does not restrict local ordinances seeking to regulate the location of gun shops, unless those ordinances are designed to prohibit gun sales entirely.
Polo’s bill would simply add another one of those exceptions. The measure states the preemption would not prevent a “county, agency, municipality, district, or other entity from adopting an ordinance that regulates the sale of firearms or ammunition on property that is owned by that county, agency, municipality, district, or other entity.”
So far, the bill does not have a co-sponsor on the Senate side. But Polo is attempting to push the measure forward in the House.
“At a time when our communities are suffering, we must do whatever we can to keep them safe and put power back into the hands of local officials,” Polo said.
“Local government should be able to determine whether or not they want a gun show held in their city. They should be trusted enough to determine what is best for their communities. I live across the street from a venue that hosts gun shows on a regular basis, and although this bill won’t fully curb gun violence, I believe it’s a steppingstone in the right direction.”
Those gun shows often allow the sale of weapons to attendees.
It may be a tough sell for the Republican-controlled Legislature to go along with the proposal. Democrats have even gone further in separate legislation, with state Sen. Annette Taddeo filing a bill to do away with the preemption entirely.
3 comments
Joey
December 14, 2019 at 10:40 am
The amount of articles in your publication similar to this one is astonishing. Why do you continually write articles such as this one about bills filed by Democrats that have absolutely zero chance of becoming law? They have almost a zero chance of even having these bills heard in committee. Yet your organization continues to waste time and space by writing these types of articles. Why not spend your time and efforts writing about bills that actually have a chance of being heard in committee and passed? I guess garbage journalism is the norm everywhere now.
Ed
December 14, 2019 at 10:46 am
These Dems think that “Local government should be able to determine whether or not they want a gun show held in their city. They should be trusted enough to determine what is best for their communities.”
Okay so let’s change a word and see if they agree or if their hypocrisy shows through.
“Local government should be able to determine whether or not they want abortions performed in their city. They should be trusted enough to determine what is best for their communities.”
Would the sponsors agree with this language being amended onto their bill? Doubtful because they really do not believe in philosophical position they take. It is all smoke and mirrors with no substance. and yet people fall for it hook, line and sinker.
Bruce
December 16, 2019 at 1:15 pm
City/County owned venues can already refuse to schedule a gun show on city owned property, (if locals disagree with that then they can go before the city/county commission to complain about it)why do we need another law for this?? Other than as a “stepping stone in the right direction” to eliminating gun sales as a whole.
Here is the stupidest line I have ever seen in a story…,”Those gun shows often allow the sale of weapons to attendees.” REALLY??? I had no idea a gun show would sell guns to attendees….. that is what they are about after all.
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