By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “A Central Florida tax collector says a new policy will allow his employees to openly carry firearms while they work,” The Associated Press reports. “Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg told the Orlando Sentinel that according to Florida law, he and his employees are considered ‘revenue officers’ and are exempt from the state’s ban on the open carrying of firearms while performing their duties.”
The rationale behind the move is to save taxpayers money by eliminating the need to hire private security.
“Tax collector Joel Greenberg says he is a ‘big believer in the Second Amendment,’” letter to the editor writer Gordon Crawford points out in the Orlando Sentinel. “If that is truly the case, he would know that this constitutional amendment was put in place to protect the public from government tyranny, not to arm the government.”
Not that the courts have incentive to provide for that. As noted by the Sun Sentinel in March, “The Florida Supreme Court found the state’s ban on openly carrying handguns constitutional, raising the stakes for open carry laws under consideration in the Legislature this year.”
But per Florida Carry’s latest legislative update for SB 140, “Open Carry and Prohibited Places Reform,” Sponsor- Sen. Greg Steube”:
“This bill has been held by Sen. Steube in favor of placing its provisions individually into separate bills.”
“I ask, sir, what is the militia?” founder George Mason asked and then answered. “It is the whole people, except for few public officials.”
That public officials will open carry while the practice has been criminalized for the whole people is exactly opposite of what was intended. It also makes a mockery of what has to be the most ignored mandate in the world: “shall not be infringed.”
And while gun owner rights advocates will properly recognize that bearing arms is an individual right not dependent on active militia deployment, and oppose restrictions on the right as a condition of employment, Greenberg’s policy of assuming the status of “Only Ones” opens his team up to a dilemma created by assumptions of elitism. If they’re not in uniform, how will cops know they’re “authorized”?
What’s to stop a person whose knowledge about guns is limited to being spooked by the media from dialing 911? Or some evil-minded anti-gun troll from doing it for the express purpose of “swatting” what he perceives to be a “mere” armed citizen…?
That’s the problem when you have two sets of “laws” that undermine equal protection. It’s also a pretty good example of how a gun owner control law justified under the banner of “public safety” can make things more dangerous.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
Hiya, I am really glad I have found this information. Nowadays bloggers publish only about gossips and internet and this is actually annoying. A good website with exciting content, that is what I need. Thank you for keeping this web site, I’ll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can not find it.
But wanna input that you have a very nice site, I love the design and style it actually stands out.
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
–Thomas Jefferson
“Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.”
– Thomas Jefferson
“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”–Thomas Jefferson
“The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”
–Thomas Jefferson
Isn’t it amazing how the government and various elites always make exceptions for themselves when it comes to things like guns, immigration, race related to schools and neighborhoods, etc.
Just in case anyone is wondering, the travel ban only applies to in coming travelers.
So you are free to leave this country whenever you want. In fact I will help you pack, but I will have my walther ppx .40 cal on my hip and my .25 cal on my ankle.
The IRS at the federal level like this Tax Collector at the State level consider themselves above the law. Just look at Lois Lerner who has never been held to account for her illegal hounding and withholding approval of applications for tax exemption for 501C(3) organizations who just happened to be conservative leading up the election of 2012. She could still be charged and brought into a court of law to stand trial for her criminal activity assuming there’s enough indisputable evidence to prove the case against her.
If one of them came to my house, and I knew that they were tax collectors, I would still report them to 911 when they left just to harass them, and in the hope that some cop would kill one or more of them.
This is no different then the low class words of the 30s shaking down people door-to-door, only they think it’s legal because they hold a position in government, but they forget and refuse to obey the laws of the people. Nothing but thugs who make Al Cappone look like a Cub Scout!
If no one else is allowed to carry, and I see a person in street clothes coming towards me, I am going to drop them like a bad habit. I am a retired law enforcement officer from PA. and have made all requirements to carry a firearm in all 50 states. BEWARE. You never know who you are walking near, or how you portray yourself.
this should be called the armed robbery service, and just who does he think he’ll be defending him self against?..people that dont want their money stolen i would assume