Posted on 05/21/2009 1:59:52 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Tallahassee - In the latest show of the influence Florida's gun lobby holds over state politics, Gov. Charlie Crist's office has been bombarded by tens of thousands of complaints from angry gun owners.
The spark: lawmakers this month took $6 million from a trust fund meant to help process concealed-weapons permits.
The funding "sweep" was part of a broader $600-million raid on trust funds set up to finance dedicated government services or programs. Lawmakers chose to use the money instead to help pay operating expenses for schools, health care and other government programs.
The $6 million came out of roughly $8 million in a concealed weapons and firearms licensing fund, which is financed through application fees and used to pay for equipment and other expenses in the state office that handles gun permits.
Although the raid might not directly translate into longer waits for a permit, The NRA's powerful lobbyist, Marion Hammer, said she was blindsided by the move and launched a lobbying campaign calling it a "last-minute sneak attack" on gun-owners.
Since then, gun enthusiasts from across Florida and other states have e-mailed, called and written letters to urge Crist to veto the sweep. Crist's office has totaled more than 25,000 so far.
Tim Larin, an NRA member from San Ramon, Calif., wrote that the sweep was "a de facto tax on the exercise of the Second Amendment."
"Who is running your state anyway?" wrote Jim Hathcoat, of Olathe, Kan.
Hammer said depleting the fund could cause serious backlogs if equipment in the permitting office within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services were to break down. The state already tapped the fund earlier this year to try and reduce a backlog of permit requests that have flooded the state recently, Hammer said.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Sure you are, California Charlie.
Just like you were anti-tax, after you signed the no tax pledge and then turned around and raised taxes.
Never trust a man with a tan like that.
The scum also tried to make this veto-proof by saying if the governor line-item vetoes this they’ll just pull the money from education instead. Thus at the next election they can say he took money from education to support gun owners.
California Charlie, future senator, possibly presidential 2nd place winner, and face of the “new” republican party
Looks like 215.32(2)(b)4 gives them the right to raid but there are exceptions. Possibly sub-sub-subsection(c) says they have to pay it back. Marked for further research.
Our demorat WI gov. Doyle raided the transportation dept fund several years ago.We send our “registration fees” for our vehicles every year to the state and write the checks to...Registration Fee Trust. Oh yeah, it’s a trust. Sure. He’s doubled those fees in the last 4 years.Doyle gave the transportation fee dollars to his pals in the teacher’s union by transferring the money to the public school system. Oh sure the teachers are happy, but our roads are horrible. Oh yeah, Doyle got away with it. That’s nothing compared to what is in his budget that is being passed now.
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