Ban Assault Weapons Now posts major haul despite March fundraising challenges

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A proposed assault weapons ban may have missed the deadline to make Florida’s 2020 ballot, but there’s growing power behind the measure as it blasts toward 2022.

Ban Assault Weapons Now raised $45,603 in March to support putting a citizen initiative on the statewide ballot. That’s on top of $180,500 raised in February after organizers failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the 2020 election.

The March haul came despite Florida becoming embroiled in the COVID-19 pandemic. The conditions led to poor fundraising among other constitutional amendments that will appear on the ballot this year. Most groups raised nothing in March.

Indeed, the financial performance for BAWN stood ahead of efforts from every active citizen initiative sponsor, including those looking toward future election cycles.

Many of the 23 amendment sponsors listed as active have kept accounts open despite long runs without fundraising — sometimes for years. Personhood Florida, for example, hasn’t reported any financial activity since 2013.

Still, BAWN’s fundraising this quarter has exceeded all other groups put together several-fold.

Almost all of the group’s 2,461, contributions came from small donors. Rena Crespi of New York donated $1,500 and Ellen Arthur of Delaware donated $1,000. But all other donations were for $500 or less. The average donation in March was less than $18.50.

That money comes from all over the country, so it’s an open question of how reflective the financial success is of support for a weapons ban in a state often viewed as a laboratory for gun rights expansion. Only 621 donations came from Florida donors.

Momentum behind the measure has been fueled by high-profile mass shootings in the state of Florida. Survivors and family members of the Parkland and Pulse shootings have been among the vocal supporters of the measure.

Money and signatures won’t be the only challenges for the citizen initiative to overcome. Attorney General Ashley Moody joined gun rights groups in challenging the legality of proposed language for the amendment.