Posted on 03/26/2004 11:59:37 PM PST by neverdem
TALLAHASSEE -- Squeezed between the cop on the beat and the powerful National Rifle Association, the Senate leaned toward the NRA Wednesday, tentatively approving a bill that would ban government and private lists of gun owners.
"This bill will stop law-abiding gun owners from being profiled simply because they are gun owners," said the sponsor, Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview.
The measure (SB 1152) puts an exclamation point on the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms with criminal penalties and an unprecedented $5 million fine for anyone who knowingly violates its provisions.
In an unusually strong preamble, the bill raises the specter of Hitler's Nazi Germany and Fidel Castro's Cuba as examples of totalitarian regimes that registered and confiscated weapons. Gun registries are not a tool against terrorism but a potential weapon to "harass" law-abiding gun owners, the bill states.
"Further, such a list, record or registry has the potential to fall into the wrong hands and become a shopping list for thieves," the bill states in its legislative findings.
But crime fighting has proven to be the toughest hurdle for supporters, with police agencies across the state expressing concern that the measure would make it harder to track criminals.
Open-government advocates are also livid.
"There is no anecdotal evidence that I can find to show that people are being profiled," said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation. "The danger is that there is no opportunity for law enforcement to keep track of people who are using guns to commit crimes."
The Senate was poised Wednesday to send the bill to Gov. Jeb Bush, since the House had passed it 81-35, but sponsors scrambled to make a few last-minute changes that will force the measure back to the House.
The bill already included a few exemptions, like lists of guns used in crimes or owned by felons, and "membership lists of organizations comprised of firearm owners," such as the NRA.
But Sen. Rod Smith, D-Gainesville, said the measure also needed to exempt police departments that store guns for vacationing owners and for weapons that are confiscated from the mentally ill or domestic-violence suspects.
"These were serious omissions that I think needed to be addressed," Smith said.
He said the compromise measures will assure support from law enforcement groups such as the Police Benevolent Association and the Florida Sheriffs Association.
Bush wants to see the final product before deciding whether to support it, a spokeswoman said. He has hinted he will approve it if police associations do, too.
NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer said she has heard complaints from motorists with gun racks who have been harassed by police, but she would not provide details.
"I said South Florida and that's as far as I'm going to go. You figure it out," she said.
She said the changes were window dressing for publicity-seeking opponents.
"It doesn't change the bill at all," she said. "It was comfort language for some people who were twitchy."
jim_ash@pbpost.com
I wonder if this will pass?
I would venture to say that in the last 5 years corporate white collar embezellers and theives have stolen BILLIONS more than ANY thief weilding a gun...
By extension, should we register all Computers, CEO's, corporate administrative positions, corporate bank accounts, etc..??
How about social security fraud? Shouldn't federal LEO's have the "right" to peruse all Social Security information to ferret out crime and fraud?
Where does it end?
More seriously, why should it ever begin?
Too many political appointees in LEO organization high muckety muck positions.. they are always the ones with the objecions, and always the ones on the side of gun control..
Obviously, I understand banning government lists - but banning private lists may be unconstitutional.
Stark contrary to the usually weak support of gun rights in this country.
"Prior to the capture of "Beltway Sniper" suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, an unconfirmed number of Maryland gun owners received surprise visits from the FBI as part of the investigation."..."Don't you know people are dying and we're just trying to do our job?"
Phone in tips might get you in some hot water too...Over the next few weeks, Montgomery County police will launch an intensive firearms crackdown using the 100,000 tips called in during the October sniper terror investigation, reports the Washington Times.
Also posted here on FR
I would venture to say that in the last 5 years corporate white collar embezellers and theives have stolen BILLIONS more than ANY thief weilding a gun... By extension, should we register all Computers, CEO's, corporate administrative positions, corporate bank accounts, etc..??Careful, you'll give them ideas.....How about social security fraud? Shouldn't federal LEO's have the "right" to peruse all Social Security information to ferret out crime and fraud?
-Eric
I was born and raised in what used to be known by all the true southern folks (who have long since either moved or died) as Miam-uh and my wife and I can't wait to get outta here! We may finish off our term as Floridians with our daughter in Orlando until I can get my full retirement as a school teacher in the Florida system but we are retiring to TEXAS. Maybe with a summer cabin in North Carolina or Tennessee. My wife is eligible for full teacher retirement in about five years. Look, just stay away from anyplace south of Lake Okeechobee and you'll be okay. LOL
Uh, lady, you just exposed an ugly mindset there. You make an automatic assumption that one who buys a gun is automatically under suspicion of criminal intent. This is the mindset of totalitarians.
In order to reduce multiple postings to the *bang_list and repeat pings to the same article, and because Joe Brower has a very big list for these topics, I ping him first most of the time.
It depends on how much importance I think the article has also. Sometimes Joe seems to be otherwise occupied. So if I think the story needs rapid exposure, then I'll put it on the *bang_list directly.
If I see someone else's story that I think is worthy of the *bang_list, then I'll bang it directly. That's the method to my madness.
But, listen, Babs. People who use guns to commit crimes aren't always conscientious about registering as gun owners!
Ding-a-ling.
You have to wonder if this person approves of government keeping lists of those who check out certain books from the library, or buy them for that matter.
Besides the obvious problems with "shall not be infringed", guns used in crimes are very rarely used by the last traceable owner. They are either stolen, or bought in back alley somewhere, usually after being stolen, but sometimes acquired more or less legitimately, but without a paper trail. The only real reason for such lists, are to make confiscation easier "when the time comes".
Well, why not? Another thread today is about people being raided and having their homes searched for no other reason using too much electicity (suspected as drug trafficers). And yet another seems to indicate that the 5th circuit no longer thinks search warrants are even nescessary if the police don't want to go to the trouble of getting them.
The government does, you know. Patriot act. BTW, it is illegal for librarians to tell anyone about it, so don't expect a lot af attention directed to this policy.
Yes, I know, which is why I used that example. Bet Ms. First Amendment doesn't approve of that, but she does of infringements of the right protected by the Second Amendment.
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