Opinion by Marion P. Hammer
Unified Sportsmen of Florida Executive Director
NRA Past President
HB-5, Protecting Florida’s Constitution From Outsiders
Florida – -(AmmoLand.com)- HB-5 – Contains an amendment by Rep. James Grant (R) to restore the right of Floridians to control the Florida citizen’s ballot initiative petition process.
The amendment is intended to stop out-of-state millionaires and billionaires from crafting amendments to Florida’s Constitution then sending paid, out-of-state petition gatherers into Florida to collect petition signatures to change Florida’s Constitution for the benefit of out-of-state special interests.
The House voted 105-0 to pass the Grant amendment with 15 House members not voting. The Senate concurred in the Grant amendment and passed the bill 22-17. On June 7, 2019, Governor DeSantis signed the bill into law.
Bill Cotterell a reporter with the Tallahassee Democrat framed it well in his article on June 8, 2019 when he said:
“When it takes effect, the bill will soon require people gathering petitions to register with the state and live in Florida, effectively eliminating a sort of cottage industry that specializes in crafting constitutional amendments and guiding them through the referendum process. It also forbids paying canvassers by how many voter signatures they gather.”
The new process takes effect in 30 days.
These changes are critically important to gun owners since anti-gunners try to subvert the Constitution and Second Amendment rights by imposing gun bans and gun control through the ballot petition process.
About Unified Sportsmen of Florida;
Unified Sportsmen of Florida was organized in 1976 for the purpose of protecting the firearms rights of all law-abiding firearms owners in Florida.
Contact:
Unified Sportsmen of Florida
110-A South Monroe Street
P.O.Box 1387
Tallahassee, Florida 32302
850-222-9518
This should be a law of the land. Buying elections is what democrats are good at. Voter fraud is only an issue if a democrat loses, stacking the deck with illegal voters almost guarantees these vipers a lifetime career. Term limits at least gives voters a chance they won’t get stuck with a career politician who would decide what’s best for you.
This bill has absolutely nothing to do with guns or gun rights. You did an amazing job of articulating your words to craft an article with statements that would make someone believe that this bill might have had an impact on guns/gun rights… which couldn’t be further from the truth. You made it seem like the intent of the lawmakers was to pass this bill because it might negatively affect gun ownership in Florida… which couldn’t be further from the truth. This bill has nothing to do with gun rights and is basically irrelevant to this website. You are creating… Read more »
If only there was a national level gun rights organization with a key member here in Florida. Someone that actually gave a crap about the Second Amendment and not giving gun owners up to line their pockets and cat food bowl.
NRA gets ZERO credit for this and it wouldn’t surprise me to find out they are helping to get signatures for the grabbers.
Looks like I will become a criminal by keeping ALL of my weapons regardless of any law that is passed. When the day comes, and I mean when it comes, I will be one of the patriots regardless of my age to defend my freedom. If it means death, then so be it. Until then, I will sharpen my skills, keep my tools clean and thank God I have what I need to keep my family safe. Lets face it, the laws are not being enforced with the criminals, they just want the American patriot to give up and let… Read more »
A good step forward. But as the gun grabbing Communists leave their home states and relocate to Floridas population centers they bring with them their vote against guns and Floridas gun community. Add the millions of Puerto Rican Communists that have moved to Florida and vote fraud by Democrats and its only a matter of time before Florida turns Blue and becomes another New Jersey. DiSantis won by a tiny percentage of votes, over a Communist who was heavily funded by Soros and Bloomberg.
Excellent work! However, I doubt that will be enough to stop BAWN, rather it will just slow them down.
We need to show the American people that semi-automatic rifles are absolutely vital if the people are to have any chance of ensuring the rest of the constitution doesnt get infringed. Modern warefare cannot be fought with hunting weapons alone (ex: bolt action rifles, revolvers, shotguns). Pistols are piss-poor primary weapons. If they ban semi-auto rifles, they haven’t taken ‘all’ the guns, but they have taken all the guns that actually matter.