"Open Carry" gun bill heads to Florida Senate floor

[Logical]

Senators on Friday gave the final committee nod to a proposal that allows concealed weapons permit holders to carry their guns openly.

The Senate Rules Committee, led by Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, passed SB 234 by a vote of 7-5, with Republican Sen. Dennis Jones of Seminole breaking from party lines. Its sponsor, Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, says the intention is to protect people who accidentally expose their weapons via strong winds that lift up shirts or holes in pockets.

Sen. JD Alexander, who voted for the bill, said he had no problem protecting truly inadvertent exposure by permit holders, but lawmakers should not go beyond that. If the bill is not "crystal clear that it's just a clarification," then Alexander said he will ultimately vote against it.

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Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2011/04/15/3117962/open-carry-gun-bill-heads-to-florida.html#ixzz1JiuBToke

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I am not a big Open Carry fan but 100% think the accidental exposure problem needs to be addressed.

[sharesunited]

1. They should remember to check their fly.

[rl6214]

2. Usefull

[gejohnston]

7. Interesting thing about Florida's open carry

Passed in 1893. It also banned concealed for the most part until 1987. It's intent was Jim Crow have not been evenly enforced until the past 40-45 years. In fact, the Florida Supreme Court overturned a carrying conviction in 1941 Watson v Stone. Justice Rivers Bufford wrote this concurring opinion for the majority:

“I know something of the history of this legislation. The original Act of 1893 was passed when there was a great influx of Negro laborers in this state drawn here for the purpose of working in turpentine and lumber camps. The same condition existed when the act was amended in 1901 and the act was passed for the purpose of disarming the negro laborers and to thereby reduce the unlawful homicides that were prevalent in turpentine and saw-mill camps and to give the white citizens in sparsely settled areas a better feeling of security. The statute was never intended to be applied to the white population and in practice has never been so applied. We have no statistics avail­able, but it is a safe guess that more than 80 percent of the white men living in rural sections of Florida have violated this statute. It is also a safe guess to say that not more than 5 percent of the men in Florida who own pistols and repeating rifles have ever applied to the Board of County Commissioners for a permit to have the same in their possession and there has never been, within my knowledge, any effort to enforce the provisions of this statute as to white people, because it has been generally conceded to be in contravention of the Constitution and non-enforceable if contested”

In These Times, as left as you get, did an interesting article on race and gun control:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3857/talking_about_guns_fighting_about_race/

I don't buy the felon being code for black in this context, but interesting.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Doing handstands with a skirt on can be troublesome

especially if you're packing heat.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. are you a little fan of open carry?

[PavePusher]

6. Do you read books in public?

Teh horrorers1!1!!

[YllwFvr]

5. Agreed, great idea nt

[provis99]

8. people with guns should be REQUIRED to carry them openly.

For one thing, CCW does nothing to avert crime. If a criminal can see a gun, then there's no reason to believe there is one. Secondly, CCW is dishonest; if people really favor carrying guns, they should carry them openly.

[oneshooter]

10. ?????.................

"If a criminal can see a gun, then there's no reason to believe there is one"


Don't not make no sense.


Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[TPaine7]

11. ????

For one thing, CCW does nothing to avert crime. If a criminal can{'t?} see a gun, then there's no reason to believe there is one.

Criminals wonder whether their intended victim might have a gun. If a substantial percentage of the "victim pool" is armed, and the fact is well publicized, crime can drop precipitously. This was clearly demonstrated in Florida.

Secondly, CCW is dishonest; if people really favor carrying guns, they should carry them openly.

Do you believe that a person's failure to wear on her sleeve the fact that she has a black belt in multiple martial arts is dishonest? How about the fact that she speaks multiple languages? That she has an MBA from Harvard? That she knows your first cousin? That she owns her own company? That she is wearing red panties? A push-up bra? That she has a hidden Motorola pager? That she likes to be spanked? That she sometimes fantasizes about you?

Just what things must she divulge to people she doesn't know in order to be an "honest" woman? (Besides, of course, that she carries a gun for protection.)

[jpak]

9. R- moran open carry bill - Teh Stupid

etc.

yup

[TPaine7]

12. Brilliant analysis! n/t