FLORIDA CARRY URGENT ACTION REQUEST
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Florida House Democrats want to ignore your voices
Today, Florida House Democrats made the remarkable statement that they don't want to hear from you! The snub was made at a press conference (http://thefloridachannel.org/video/11613-house-democrats-press-conference-on-stand-your-ground/) held to urge Republicans in the House to compromise away provisions in the Stand Your Ground legislation.
Speaking on behalf of the House Democrats, House Minority Leader Rep. Perry E. Thurston, Jr., lauds SB 130, sponsored by Senator Simmons (R) and Senator Smith (D) as a bi-partisan bill in the Senate that in his words, "called for by all communities, by the legal community, by the law enforcement community, all of whom say that there's some changes that need to be done". Apparently Rep. Thurston considers the legal and law enforcement communities the only groups from whom he needs to hear, because the major change proposed by the Simmons/Smith bill removes immunity from law-abiding gun owners should their use of self-defense result in an injury to a third party, and does absolutely nothing to deter criminals from engaging in violent criminal attacks, which invite the necessity of self-defense in the first place. Imagine, you are being violently attacked, and you fire your weapon in lawful self-defense. A third party gets scared, and runs, trips over a lawn sprinkler, and sues you. That would be perfectly acceptable under SB 130.
He then goes on to say that the House has not seen fit to fix the SYG law. What he actually means is that the House has not gone along with his idea of what "fixing" is. In fact tomorrow, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee will discuss HB 89, a bi-partisan bill sponsored by Rep. Combee (R) and Rep. Edwards (D), along with 23 other co-sponsors, which will ensure that law-abiding gun owners will not be jailed or charged for using the sight of a firearm, or the safe firing of a warning shot which successfully deters a violent criminal attack. It also relieves a judge from imposing a mandatory minimum sentence on those who use self-defense, but make a technical error in the application of force.
Here's what the staff analysis says regarding the immunity provision the House provision supports:
Immunity from Criminal Prosecution and Civil Actions
The bill provides that a person who is immune from civil lawsuits is only immune from lawsuits by the person against whom force is used and his or her personal representative or heirs. Therefore, an injured third party is not expressly precluded from filing a civil action against a person who is otherwise immune under the Stand Your Ground law.
We need your help NOW!!! HB 89 is being heard by the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee tomorrow (Thursday) at 3PM. In addition, HB 4003 which would REPEAL the Castle Doctrine is also being heard.
Block copy and paste the following email addresses of the committee members into your email client "To" field.
Put this in the "subject" line: Support HB-89 by Combee / Oppose HB-4003 by Williams
Dear Representative,
As a law-abiding citizen, I believe the right to self-defense is a fundamental right that deserves protection by government. The recent attempts to infringe upon this right are intolerable, and only serve to render life itself secondary to law.
I urge you to support HB 89 and oppose HB 4003.
Respectfully yours,
I urge you to support HB 89 and oppose HB 4003.
Respectfully yours,
If you'd rather call, here are the phone numbers of the committee members:
Chairman, Matt Gaetz - (850) 717-5004
Vice Chair, Ray Pilon - (850) 717-5072
Irving Slosberg - (850) 717-5099
Randolph Bracy - (850) 717-5045
Mike Clelland - (850) 717-5029
Dane Eagle - (850) 717-5077
James Grant - (850) 717-5064
Gayle Harrell - (850) 717-5083
Dave Hood - (850) 717-5025
Travis Hutson - (850) 717-5024
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