Wrote Me A Letter

My state representative has this in their inbox:

Hello!

I would like you to support, and cosponsor, HB273 introduced by Rep. Anthony Sabatini.

"Constitutional" carry is simply put, as the founders of the nation intended it to be.  Nothing more should be said about such a right.  Sadly, more must be said.

Constitutional carry was once known as Vermont carry, because before 2003 when it was joined by Alaska, Vermont was the ONLY state with such liberty.  Since 2010 14 other states have joined them.

Presently there are several cases of persons who have had their concealed weapons permits revoked because the department of agriculture cannot be bothered to differentiate between two people of similar names.  This likely stems from the office changing from Republican to Democrat hands.  The right to carry a firearm for self defense should not rest on the whim of whom has most recently won an election.  That power is not vested in the office of commissioner of agriculture and consumer services.

Because the commissioner has proven that the office can be abused to violate the people of Florida's rights, the ability to do so should be removed from the office.

Permitless carry makes it impossible for a vindictive commissioner from denying a law abiding citizen from exercising their legal rights as citizens.

Additionally Florida is one of only five states with severe restrictions on the open carry of firearms.  Again it is the abuse of governmental power which brings us to need legislative relief from such abuse.  Law enforcement is unaware of the legislative intent of 790.053 and are persecuting lawful citizens for a minor infraction as if they were deliberately and unlawfully open carrying.  Once again, making the practice completely legal removes the ability to abuse the rights of the citizen.

You will be inundated by cries of opponents to this bill that it will cause additional violence.  There are, presently, 16 states with no license requirement to carry a firearm and none of them have experienced any of the dire consequences predicted by the opponents of the respective bills.

You will be told by the supposed representatives of Florida's law enforcement community that it will make their jobs more difficult and they oppose such bills.  There are 16 states which show that their objections are groundless.

Many of the same objections were made in 1987 when Florida became one of the very few states to have "shall issue" conceal carry licenses.  In the intervening 32 years, none of the dire predictions came true.  Not one single thing.

Passage of this bill will not increase violence or crime, it will not unduly burden the law enforcement community and it will not have a negative effect on commerce or tourism.

This is a great bill to find out who our friends and enemies are.  Do they support or oppose liberty?