Florida Sheriff Supports Open Carry; Criticizes “secret vote”

Gun Watch ^ | 31 October, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Sheriff Frank Mckeithen of Bay County, Florida, has come out in favor of open carry and the Second Amendment, and against the way in which the Florida Sheriffs’ Association conducted a vote to lobby against the open carry bill.  The vote has been represented in the media as a “secret vote”.   The accepted definition of a secret ballot is one in which the identities of the voters are kept secret from the people who count the votes.  That way, reprisals against people who vote for or against a particular measure or person are prevented, and people have less to worry about votes being bought by those in power.  Secret ballots are generally eschewed in legislatures, because it is expected that legislatures *will* be held accountable by the electorate.  From wikipedia.org:

The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter‘s choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous, forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation and potential vote buying.

But the Sheriffs’ Association vote on the open carry bill was anything but secret, except in the most perverted sense of the term.  The vote was carried out by telephone, so the management of the Sheriffs’ Association had every opportunity to “buy” and influence votes.  The Sheriffs’ votes were not anonymous to the management. The only thing “secret” about the ballot is that the Sheriffs were assured that their votes would not be made public, so that they could not be held accountable by the voters!

[marktwain]

Sheriff Frank McKiethen is an example of a Sheriff who is upholding the Second Amendment. There are a number; they may be a minority, but the numbers are growing.

[cloudmountain]

Sheriff Frank McKiethen is an example of a Sheriff who is upholding the Second Amendment. There are a number; they may be a minority, but the numbers are growing.

Good for him.

The left coast could sure use more folks like him.

[capt. norm]

That’s OUR sheriff (Panama City = Bay County).

[Leaning Right]

That’s what’s great about U.S. county sheriffs. They are answerable to the public on election days, so you normally get at least some common sense talk from them.

[ImNotLying]

Sheriff McKiethen recently put “In God We Trust” decals on the back of all the Bay County Sheriff vehicles. He also gave them out to anybody who wanted to stop by the Department. No taxpayer money used either. We like Sheriff McKiethen here, he is a no nonsense, no PC kind of guy.

[Arm_Bears]

I’ve tried to find whether our Sheriff in Jacksonville—Mike Williams—has articulated a position on this.

So far, I’ve not found anything definitive; which leads me to believe he’s against it.