Jacob Ogles
Gun control advocates just fired off a series of digital ads targeting Florida lawmakers during Session.
The five-figure ad buy from Ban Assault Weapons NOW will press lawmakers to institute legislative weapons bans.
“Our state and our children would be far safer if elected leaders passed legislation banning these weapons of war once and for all,” said BAWN chair Gail Schwartz.
The organization specifically supports legislation filed in the Senate (SB 370) by Sen. Gary Farmer, a Broward Democrat, and in the House (HB 65) by Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat. The identical bills would prohibit the sales or transfer of assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines and provide restrictions for continued ownership of such items.
The bill defines assault weapons as any automatic or semiautomatic firearm or any gun capable of burst fire. It lays out a series of gun styles, including all AR series of weapons. The Sig Sauer MCX Rifle used in the Pulse shooting in 2016 is specifically named, as is the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle used in the Parkland shooting in 2018.
Those shootings get highlighted in the digital banner ad campaign. One shows candles held at a vigil with the text: “Pulse happened. 49 MURDERED and assault weapons are still legal.” A second shows individuals holding crosses and candles at a vigil and contains similar wording: “Parkland happened. 17 MURDERED and assault weapons are still legal.”
Another banner reads: “If the Legislature doesn’t pass an assault weapons ban, THEY ARE COMPLICIT in the next tragedy.”
A final banner includes a call to action: “Hold hearings NOW for the bills to ban assault weapons. Learn more or contact your legislator.”
Schwartz, whose nephew Alex Schachter died in the Parkland shooting, said it’s important for the Legislature to act and prevent more mass shootings in the future.
“Through this effort, we are continuing to put pressure on our elected leaders to do what the majority of Floridians want, and what our communities need, which is to pass bills that we know will have a direct impact on reducing gun violence and mass murder. If legislators don’t act now to support this legislation, or even give it a hearing, they will be complicit in the next mass murder event perpetrated with an assault weapon in our state.”
8 comments
Ocean Joe
March 18, 2021 at 6:51 am
The lack of outraged comments from gun lovers indicates the NRA must have left the stage – normally that guy Marion would gin up at least 50 comments claiming the end of the world was near.
Mike Grant
March 18, 2021 at 6:59 am
The lack of comments is the result of the author and these news rags that censor those comments.
Sawa Dee kA
March 18, 2021 at 9:42 am
Just an fyi Joe,
Marion is a woman.
Dave Blue
March 19, 2021 at 11:56 am
You don’t even know who Marion Hammer is.
Mike Grant
March 18, 2021 at 6:57 am
Here are the inconvenient, absolute, undeniable, indisputable facts and truths about gun control;
– NEVER in the entire history of gun control anywhere in the world, has any gun-control legislation, law or penalty stopped a bad-man from getting a gun. Neither will these bills.
– ALL of the gun-control or gun safety laws anywhere in the world affect only Law-Abiding Gun Owners, effectively disarming them from being able to protect themselves, their loved ones and their homes. Because Bad-Men do not obey laws.
– The ENTIRETY of gun-control or gun safety laws everywhere on Earth create only a world full of victims, and, as history has documented, Bad-Men prey on unarmed victims exclusively.
-You cannot PENALIZE 100+ million Law-Abiding Firearms owners for the actions of less than a single handful of criminals. That is not Governance, that is Dictatorship. But they already know that.
Bob
March 18, 2021 at 9:13 am
Brb gonna buy some more.
Richard Nascak
March 19, 2021 at 5:43 pm
“Our state and our children would be far safer if elected leaders passed legislation banning these weapons of war once and for all,” said BAWN chair Gail Schwartz.
If ignorance is bliss, Gail is either ecstatic, or she’s outright lying to the public. No semiautomatic AR-15 has EVER faced an enemy across a battlefield anywhere on the planet and no military service has EVER issued them as infantry rifles.
So which is it Gail?
MSgt, USAF Retired
Eric Nix
March 19, 2021 at 8:29 pm
Those fools can shove those gun bans right up their ass.
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