Chairman David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, worked out a face-saving compromise to end a three-month standoff between the National Rifle Association and the state Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Retail Federation and Associated Industries of Florida. Although the weakened bill escaped from its first committee, Florida Retail Federation lobbyist Bill Herrle said powerful business groups do not feel obligated to let it survive in the second half of the legislative session.
That means a killer amendment that Rep. Juan Carlos Planas, R-Miami, put before the committee and then withdrew will probably resurface. The Planas amendment would let businesses ban guns in their parking lots for any reason - which they can already do - rendering the bill meaningless.
Dennis Baxley is trying to make it illegal for any business to ban weapons. No exceptions. What the law will do is say it is legal for a gun owner to bring a firearm to someone's private property. The NRA already passed the Stand Your Ground that allows a home owner to shoot someone if they feel threatened. I don't think the NRA realizes how silly this looks.
I support the second amendment. I also think people should use commom sense when passing legislation. The NRA is pushing the take your guns to work law in several states. We haven't seen the last of this.
Side note: did you know Dennis Baxley was on a mission from God?
Elected to the Florida House of Representatives last year to represent District 24, this 48-year-old father of five from Belleview, Florida, feels it's God's plan for him to be in Tallahassee. When Baxley came to the Capital last year, he left behind his elderly parents, his children, six businesses, 65 employees and a godly, supportive spouse named Ginette.
Six businesses. Hmm. What would Jesus do?
Baxley has also been protecting college students from alleged liberal bias at universities.
Last year, State Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, filed a bill that would have enabled students to sue professors if they felt their political or religious beliefs were not respected. In discussion of the bill, Baxley decried the "leftist totalitarianism" of "dictator professors."
In an interview Friday, Baxley said the study's findings understate what remains a problem. He said students whose academic freedom has been violated often do not file formal complaints - lacking confidence in their universities' grievance procedures.
"I think they look at it and say, 'I'm not going to get an objective review here,'" he said. "I think it's pretty heavily weighted to protect faculty."
Baxley doesn't have a study to back his allegations. He doesn't need no sticking study. He has truthiness on his side.
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