Florida Alert! PART 2 - 2021 Legislative Session Wrap-Up - 25 VERY BAD Gun Control Bills DIED

[Charlie T Waite]

DATE:	July 14, 2021
TO:	USF & NRA Members and Friends
FROM:	Marion P. Hammer
	USF Executive Director
	NRA Past President

 

As we celebrate passage of three (3) pro-gun bills in the 2021 Florida Legislative Session, we should also be celebrating the fact that 25 very bad gun control bills were killed (10 House Bills & 15 Senate Bills) without ever getting to the House or Senate floor.   

As one might expect, all of the gun control bills were sponsored by anti-gun Democrats.  

The true "Second Amendment Heroes" of the 2021 Legislative Session are: Senate President Wilton Simpson (R), House Speaker Chris Sprowls (R), Rep. Cord Byrd (R), Sen. Joe Gruters (R), Rep. Jayer Williamson (R), Sen. Ray Rodrigues (R), and Rep. Jason Shoaf (R). They worked exceptionally hard to protect your constitutional rights as guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.   

2021 Status of Florida GUN CONTROL Bills

HOUSE BILLS

HB-25 - Sales of Ammunition - by Rep. Dan Daley (D) mandates background checks for the sale or transfer of ammunition.  DIED IN COMMITTEE
 
HB-167 - Sale, Transfer, or Storage of Firearms - by Rep. Christine Hunschofsky (D) revises requirements for safe storage of firearms; provides criminal penalties if person fails to properly secure or store firearm & minor gains access to weapon as result; requires seller of firearm to provide each purchaser with specified information; revises standard for adults & minors to be criminally negligent in storage of firearm; revises exception to prohibition on storing loaded firearm within reach or easy access of minor who obtains it & commits certain violation.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-251 - Risk Protection Orders - by Kelly Skidmore (D) redefines the term "petitioner" to include individual who has biological or legal parent-child relationship with, who is legal guardian of, or who is spouse or sibling of respondent.  Expands the list of people who can petition for an RPO resulting in the removal and seizure of firearms. DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-555 - Storage of Firearms by Licensed Importers, Manufacturers, and Dealers - by Joy Goff-Marcil (D) mandates specific firearm storage requirements for licensed importers, licensed manufacturers, & licensed dealers; authorizes compliance inspections. DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-653 - Assault Weapons and Large-capacity Magazines - by Carlos G. Smith (D) bans the sale, transfer, or possession of assault weapon or large-capacity magazine; requires certificates of possession for assault weapons or large-capacity magazines lawfully possessed before specified date; limits sales or transfers of assault weapons or large-capacity magazines documented by such certificates; provides enhanced penalties for offenses committed with assault weapon or large-capacity magazine.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-1015 - Use or Threatened Use of Force - by Michele Rayner (D) repeals provisions relating using or threatening to use force, including deadly force and not having to retreat before such use or threatened use in defense of persons or property - having right to stand their ground.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-1367 - Registration of Fingerprints of Concealed Weapons or Firearms License Holders - by Michele Rayner (D) decreases number of years that licenses to carry concealed weapons or firearms are valid; requires that full set of fingerprints submitted as part of application for license be retained by specified entities.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-6033 - Repeals Preemption of Firearms and Ammunition - by Dan Daley (D) repeals provisions preempting the field of regulation of firearms & ammunition to Legislature, to exclusion of local jurisdictions and allows local government to enact gun control. DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-6035 - Repeals the Right to Use or Threatened to Use of Deadly Force - by Yvonne Hinson (D) removes provisions allowing use or threatened use of deadly force to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm or to prevent imminent commission of forcible felony.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

HB-6063 - Use of Deadly Force in Defense of a Person - by Dotie Joseph (D) repeals provisions relating using or threatening to use force, including deadly force and not having to retreat before such use or threatened use in defense of persons or property - having right to stand their ground.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SENATE BILLS

SB-182 - Risk Protection Orders - by Lori Berman (D) redefines the term “petitioner” to include an individual who has a biological or legal parent-child relationship with, who is a legal guardian of, or who is a spouse or sibling of a respondent.  Expands the list of people who can petition for an RPO resulting in the removal and seizure of firearms. DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-294 - Storage of Loaded Firearms - by Gary Farmer (D) dictates the locations and circumstances in which a loaded firearm is required to be kept and secured with a trigger lock or cable lock; deleting exceptions and criminalizing storage not meeting certain mandates. DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-330 - Universal Background Checks - by Gary Farmer (D) requires ALL sales, leases, or other transfer of a firearm to be completed through a licensed dealer; authorizing a licensed dealer to charge a buyer or transferee specified fees. DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-370 - Assault Weapons and Large-capacity Magazine Ban - by Gary Farmer, Jr. (D) bans the sale or transfer of an assault weapon or a large-capacity magazine; providing criminal penalties; prohibiting possession of an assault weapon or a large-capacity magazine; requiring certificates of possession for assault weapons or large-capacity magazines lawfully possessed before a specified date; requiring the Department of Law Enforcement to maintain a file of such certificates, etc. (gun registration)  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-372 - Three-dimensional Printed Firearms - by Linda Stewart (D) prohibiting a person from printing, transferring, importing into this state, distributing, selling, possessing, or giving to another person certain 3D-printed firearms as of a specified date; providing criminal penalties; requiring persons in possession of such firearms to relinquish them to a law enforcement agency or to the Department of Law Enforcement or to destroy them before the prohibition takes effect, etc. DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-428 - Sale, Transfer, or Storage of Firearms - by Sen. Tina Polsky (D) revises requirements for the safe storage of loaded firearms; providing criminal penalties if a person fails to properly secure or store a firearm and a minor gains access to the weapon as a result; requiring a seller or transferor of a firearm to provide each purchaser or transferee with specified information; revising the standard for adults and minors to be criminally negligent in the storage of a firearm under certain circumstances, etc. DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-560 - Repeals the Statutory Prohibition of Registration of Firearms & Firearm Owners - by Gary Farmer, Jr. (D) repeals s.790.335, that prohibits the registration or recordkeeping of firearms and firearm owners and to repeal s.790.336 that requires any such records to be destroyed.  (This bill paves the way for gun registration and ultimately gun confiscation)  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-672 - Repeals Preemption of Firearms and Ammunition Regulation - by Annette Taddeo (D) repealing a provision relating to the preemption of the field of regulation of firearms and ammunition to the Legislature, to the exclusion of local jurisdictions, etc.

SB-966 - The Safe Storage Of Firearms - by Victor Torres, Jr. , mandates firearms storage requirement for licensed dealers, licensed manufacturers, licensed importers; authorizing agents or employees of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services perform inspection; providing penalties.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-1052 - Use or Threatened Use of Force - by Shevrin Jones(D) repeals provisions relating using or threatening to use force, including deadly force and not having to retreat before such use or threatened use in defense of persons or property - having right to stand their ground.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-1170 - Sales of Ammunition - by Lauren Book (D) requires background checks for the sale or transfer of ammunition; providing exceptions, etc.  DIED IN COMMITTEE

SB-1196 - Use or Threatened Use of Deadly Force - by Perry Thurston, Jr. (D) removes provisions allowing use or threatened use of deadly force to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm or to prevent imminent commission of forcible felony.  DIED IN COMMITTEE.

SB-1464 - Gun Safety - by Linda Stewart (D) is actually an assault weapon & magazine ban bill. The title assigned by Senate Bill Drafting is deliberately deceptive.  Prohibiting the import into this state, or the distribution, transport, transfer, sale, keeping for sale, offering or exposing for sale, or giving within this state, of assault weapons or large-capacity magazines; providing criminal penalties; requiring certificates of possession for assault weapons or large-capacity magazines lawfully possessed before a specified date; providing conditions for continued possession of such assault weapons or large-capacity magazines, etc. DIED IN COMMITTEE.

SB-1580 - Licenses to Carry Concealed Weapons or Firearms - by Shevrin Jones (D) reduces the term and fee of a license to carry a concealed weapon or firearm; specifying that experience with a firearm through military service in the United States Armed Forces meets the requirement of demonstrating competence with a firearm; requiring the retention of fingerprints in specified systems; requiring a licensee, upon each renewal, to provide proof of completion of a firearms training or safety course or class meeting specified requirements, etc. DIED IN COMMITTEE.

SB-1742 - Use of Deadly Force by Bobby Powell (D) requires certain law enforcement agencies to collect and report to the Department of Law Enforcement specified information regarding the use of deadly force; requiring the department, in consultation with specified associations, to develop and maintain a database for the retention of such information for at least a specified period of time, etc.  DIED IN COMMITTEE.

SB-1856 - Firearms - by Lauren Book (D) authorizes a law enforcement officer acting in accordance with certain provisions to serve and execute a certain court order on any day and at any time to seize and hold the person’s firearms or ammunition or license to carry a concealed weapon or firearm under certain circumstances; authorizing a court to remove the right to purchase, own, sell, or possess firearms or ammunition or to possess a license to carry concealed weapons or firearms of a person found to be incapacitated, etc.  DIED IN COMMITTEE.