Florida’s Joe Carlucci Uniform Firearms Act, which gives gun regulation solely to the state, went into effect October 1st.
The Act is forcing cities and counties to modify their laws, as it makes all future and existing local government ordinances related to firearms regulation illegal. This has caused no little anxiety amongst city and county commissioners all over Florida.
Right here in my neck o’ the woods, our commissioners are upset, even frightened… and looking for ways to change it somehow.
In Margate they are amending six sections of the city’s code and deleting two sections. Coconut Creek is deleting one section of its code and amending two sections. Both cities are removing similar sections banning the firing of guns within city boundaries and Margate is also erasing a section about needing a permit to fire within city limits.
Margate did not have an ordinance about carrying guns in public parks, but Coconut Creek did. The city is changing the language so that it no longer prohibits people from having guns while in a city park. Also, Coconut Creek can no longer discipline employees for bringing a gun to work on city property.
The six amended sections of Margate’s include allowing a security guard to carry a gun without a police permit, anyone to fire a gun without a permit, and no more permitting fees for manufacturing, keeping, storage, sale and transportation ammunition and blasting powder.
“I think it’s pretty terrible what the legislature did. Innocent people are going to get hurt,” Coconut Creek Commissioner Becky Tooley said. “I don’t think it’s right that they can carry [guns] into public parks and buildings. If someone makes an appointment to see me, they can bring [a gun] into my office and blow me away. It needs to be overturned A.S.A.P.”
“If someone makes an appointment to see me, they can bring [a gun] into my office and blow me away.”
Coconut Creek Commissioner Lisa Aronson agreed with Tooley, and is looking at how the new law can be adjusted.
“I’ve asked the Broward League of Cities Public Safety Committee to discuss the new limitations and propose an amendment next legislative session in Tallahassee,” Aronson said.
Margate Mayor Pam Donovan was equally as frustrated with the new law while explaining it at a city commission meeting.
“Years ago the city of Margate had an ordinance saying you could not bring [a gun] into city hall,” Donovan said. “You couldn’t walk though those doors with a gun; permit, no permit, whatever, you could not go through those doors. Now you can.”
I love how they always make it sound like the Dalton gang is going to ride up and whip out their Winchesters… In reality, they have nothing to fear from law abiding concealed carry permit holders! The bad guys will always find a way to bring a gun in somewhere and do evil with it… and the people carrying concealed can actually be a help if that happens.
Besides, Courthouses are lousy with LEOs, whose job it is to spot trouble, serve and protect… and then fill out reams of paperwork. Yeah, I know I changed it.
Yesterday about mid-morning, a crime occurred at our community clubhouse. It’s sort of across the street from us, diagonally speaking. So, this asshole walks in, all the way to the back where Ed, the treasurer, sits. It’s all very informal and the door is always unlocked. The asshole walks in like he owns the place, pulls a knife and demands Ed give him money. All Ed had on him was 5.00, so the asshole took it… made a phone call and then left! I’m sure the police have him by now, what with his prints all over everything and redial!
All-too-near, just-over-the-hedge Clubhouse of Horror
What if Ed hadn’t had any money? Would that have upset the asshole enough to use his knife? If I were sitting over there every day, I’d have a gun and would go with the familiar ‘just let me get my purse’. But I work out in the yard all the time unarmed… which now concerns me more than ever…
I’m getting off the point, of course. If the asshole had had enough money of his own, he wouldn’t have relied solely on a knife to rob Ed; he’d have used a gun, as all bad guys aspire to the largest, baddest weapon possible. The point, and I do have one, is that if Ed had his own gun, the asshole would have been stopped in his tracks and he’s still have his money.
Concealed carry holders have been kept out of county and state parks for years and now we’re free to go back… it’s a nice feeling.
13. October 2011 at 11:54 am
State & Federal parks have been a haven for robbers & rapists because they knew the prey was an honest citizen and could not be armed, for some unknown reason I have started packing a couple weeks ago when we walk the girls around that same clubhouse – the violence against white folks is escalating (not here yet) to epidemic proportions to the point I feel the need to carry as I did in the 80′s & 90′s in wonderful south Florida – One of the people I fly with had his sister in law & mother in law gunned down by a person with a restraining order, this is normal in South Florida for many years now – You never know when you will be in the middle of it – I have had vehicles struck by bullets three time so far that I know of, could have been own
13. October 2011 at 11:57 am
If you feel the need to carry, do so. After all, you have a permit.
13. October 2011 at 7:47 pm
Pam, go to a source like MidwayUSA and see if they have a Desantis Nemesis pocket holster that will fit your shootin’ iron. You probably do not need a permit to carry on your own property and even if you do, no jury would convict. The Nemesis will even fit into a bluejeans pocker holding my wife’s little five shot S&W, mu three inch Ruger SP101 is too big for bluejeans but fits in normal shorts and slacks in one. Your little auto will probably work, if not, improvise. Like a carpenter’s apron, you could also hold gardening tools in other pockets, for instance.
There is no good reason to have to stand naked before thine enemies.
13. October 2011 at 8:08 pm
I didn’t find a DeSantis to fit my ‘gardening tool’ at Midway, so I went directly to DeSantis’ web site and found two pocket holsters…
http://www.desantisholster.com/store/SEARCH-BY-GUN-MANUFACTURER/SIG-SAUER/P230-P232/POCKET-HOLSTERS
Cool, thank you!
13. October 2011 at 8:51 pm
And it’s cheep! Like the sign that used to be in a lot of men’s rooms, “We aim to please. You aim, too, please.” Hope you never need it. If you do ever need it, you’ll need it very badly. Pull fast, take a split second to make sure you see that front sight, then squeeze the trigger. Center chest, high. Right between the nipples of someone without sagging breasts. Two shots there, if they don’t fall, put one in the hip. If you manage to break that bone it does not matter what else they do, they can’t chase you no matter what kind of body armor they’re wearing. With a broken hip, they’re anchored. Retreat fast and let the local bluesuits handle it.
If it’s a skell with a knife and you have a fence between you or if they are more than fifteen feet away you will often have better luck aiming for the hip instead of the chest if you are hoping to get out of the situation without making a loud noise. The bad guy will think you’re aiming for the scrotum and there are a lot of them that will take a chance on you not shooting to kill. Damned few want to take a chance on sudden gelding syndrome.
Within 15 or 20 feet a bad guy with a knife is a deadly threat and you won’t have time to ass around with warnings. Pull, get that front sight and squeeze. Then let the medical examiner handle it.
13. October 2011 at 9:28 pm
“…sudden gelding syndrome.”
13. October 2011 at 8:55 pm
Holy crap. Hell down here our crime consists of hobos peeing in public or drunk tourists being stupid. Oh and we live a block from the local shooting range.
13. October 2011 at 9:30 pm
Well, that’s convenient!
More people are out of work, longer. And they’re getting desperate…
13. October 2011 at 9:58 pm
Oh, Pam, if it’s not too late, remind your sweetie that today is the anniversary of the United States Navy. You might feed him a special snack or other treat!
14. October 2011 at 6:37 am
Damn, I didn’t see that anywhere! Thanks!
14. October 2011 at 12:55 am
thanks for the info Peter, we both have and keep current CW permits – I love the pocket holsters – I need to break mine out to see what I have, it has been a long time since I have carried so I have not seen them in years, I think there is a pocket one in my collection – if they had not stopped the open carry I could just strap on the 22 mag quick draw rig I have had since 68 – Pammy wanted a shotgun and I think the Kel-Tec Shotgun (KSG) would be the best choice for home use and I am looking at the P-3AT also from Kel-Tec for my pocket – one of the guys I work with has carried one for over a year and no one has noticed it – Folly, go up to Homestead & Florida City for a week and you would be surprised what goes on there – you are in a sleepy county, Dade & Broward are very active and most of it does not make the news
14. October 2011 at 6:39 am
Wait a minute… I thought the Remington was a good shotgun?
14. October 2011 at 8:22 am
The Remington is a good shotgun. So are the various Mossbergs. A sleeper in the shotgun stable is the clone of the Winchester 1897 pump. It is the only exposed hammer pump around and there is simply no better safety than an exposed hammer.
We gave our pump shotgun to our oldest boy out in Phoenix and our home shotgun is my hammer double. I seriously doubt we’d ever need more than two rounds of buckshot to solve any defense problem that doesn’t include a zombie horde.
14. October 2011 at 8:31 am
I was just looking at the Mossbergs… nice!
We’ll see what Artie says…
15. October 2011 at 9:14 am
I found a pink Mossberg I really must have.
15. October 2011 at 9:28 am
I’ve got a thing for Weatherby’s… and have drooled over their shotguns for… oh, about 20 years.
http://www.weatherby.com/product/shotguns
14. October 2011 at 12:31 pm
Peter, I was not familiar with the 1897, never saw one before but I am familiar with Norinco, I have their 1911 and love it – I was up till 1am checking ammo and was shacked to discover my silver-tips and Hornady’s were an absolute no-no in our Sig’s – looks like I will be buying some more ammo real soon
14. October 2011 at 11:39 pm
Mike, check out the Speer Gold Dot line. Good stuff.