[jongutmacher]

Violations of the preemption law by local governments are a daily occurrence - and illegal prohibitions on carry into parks, libraries, etc -- are the norm, not the exception. The Legislature has taken first steps to combat this -- and it needs your immediate support. SPREAD THE WORD!!!

DATE: February 4, 2011
TO: USF & NRA Members and Friends
FROM: Marion P. Hammer
USF Executive Director
NRA Past President

SB-402 by Sen. Joe Negron (R) has been scheduled to be heard in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 8:00am

SB-402 simply provide penalties for government officials, local governments and agencies that willfully and knowingly violate the state firearms preemption law. State law prohibits local governments and government agencies from adopting any gun control ordinance or regulations. They are arrogantly violating the law because there are no penalties currently in the law.

SB-402 is a bill to STOP public officials and local governments from violating state law by providing penalties for willful violations.

You must act quickly. URGENT! This Committees Must Hear From You

PLEASE IMMEDIATELY EMAIL Members of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]

In the subject line put:

SUPPORT SB-402 -- Stop local governments from violating state law.

 

[SwampDude]

Consider it done. Please edit your OP to include complete e-mail addresses for the bottom two senators on your list.

I also signed my name and included the community I live in to give the message authenticity.

 

[JimD]

Just sent mine with the following body:

Dear Senators Evers, Dean, Dockery, Margolis, and Smith,

I would like to ask that each of you support SB-402 when is it heard in your committee on Tuesday, February 8. Florida Statute 790.33 does a wonderful job of establishing preemption in the field of firearms and ammunition. Unfortunately, numerous localities have chosen to openly violate this statute. The logical conclusion is that they do so because there is no penalty in place for them and they realize that it will be prohibitively expensive for an average citizen to challenge them when the choose to violate the statute. This bill should provide the impetus to cause local governments to cease their illegal activity in direct violation of the State Statute and to comply with the wishes of the citizens of Florida as expressed by their state legislators. Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,


I encourage everyone to personalize their message to the Committee.

Jim

 

[SwampDude]

Just sent mine with the following body:

Dear Senators Evers, Dean, Dockery, Margolis, and Smith,

I would like to ask that each of you support SB-402 when is it heard in your committee on Tuesday, February 8. Florida Statute 790.33 does a wonderful job of establishing preemption in the field of firearms and ammunition. Unfortunately, numerous localities have chosen to openly violate this statute. The logical conclusion is that they do so because there is no penalty in place for them and they realize that it will be prohibitively expensive for an average citizen to challenge them when the choose to violate the statute. This bill should provide the impetus to cause local governments to cease their illegal activity in direct violation of the State Statute and to comply with the wishes of the citizens of Florida as expressed by their state legislators. Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,


I encourage everyone to personalize their message to the Committee.

Jim

Jim- Your message to the senators is excellent, and I would encourage others to borrow all or part of it for their own message. The most important thing is for as many citizens as possible to express support for SB-402.

 

[birdman]

Sent this to all 5

Dear Senator,


Please support SB-402 when is it heard in your committee February 8. We find local politicians frequently poke their thumb in the eye of the Florida legislature by violating Florida Statute 790.33, the firearms pre-emption statute.



F.S. 790.33 says ONLY the State legislature may pass laws releated to firearms and ammuniton. It states all laws, regulations and ordinances relating to firearms written by political subdivisions of the State are null and void. The reason local politicians can do this is NOT ignorance of the law, but rather because there is currently no penalty for brazenly violating it. They, therefore, ignore it expecting someone violating their illegal ordinance will either not know the ordinance is illegal OR will not have the resources to fight an arrest for breaking it.



SB-402 will provide a penalty for knowingly violating State law and provide the impetus to cause local governments to cease their illegal activity. Counties and Municipalities in Florida MUST comply with the wishes of the citizens of Florida as expressed by their state legislators. Providing a stiff penalty for doing so may change their behavior.



Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,

OBTW the corrected typos in the addresses are

[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]


Allan

 

[TheSaiga308]

Urgent! STOP Local Governments across Florida From Violating State Law!

Hey Y'all,
Here is another must for preserving the freedoms of all people in FL regardless of where they reside. Looks like we have plenty of politicians these days who think they are above the law!! The US is increasingly becoming lawless because of these politicians and it's time we put our foot down! Let's get this legislation passed. :thumsup


URGENT
** ROUND 1 **
STOP Local Governments across Florida From Violating State Law!


DATE: February 4, 2011
TO: USF & NRA Members and Friends
FROM: Marion P. Hammer
USF Executive Director
NRA Past President

Senate Bill 402 , introduced by state Senator Joe Negron (R-28), has been scheduled to be heard in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday, February 8 at 8:00 a.m.

SB 402 would simply provide penalties for government officials, local governments and agencies that willfully and knowingly violate the state firearms preemption law. State law prohibits local governments and government agencies from adopting any gun control ordinances or regulations. There are some who are arrogantly violating the law because there are no penalties currently in the law.

SB 402 is a bill to STOP local politicians and governments from violating state law by providing penalties for willful violations.

You must act quickly. URGENT! The Senate Criminal Justice Committee must hear from you.

PLEASE IMMEDIATELY E-MAIL the members of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee below:

In the subject line put:

SUPPORT SB 402 -- Stop local governments from violating state law.

(Block and Copy All e-mail addresses into the "Send To" box)

[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]

BACKGROUND

In 1987, the Florida Legislature passed a firearms preemption statute (f.s.790.33) to provide uniformity of gun laws -- in fact, it is called the "Joe Carlucci Uniform Firearms Act."

It was intended to stop local governments from making criminals out of law-abiding citizens just because they simply crossed a city limit or county line. It was intended to provide uniform gun laws so that no matter where in the state you live and no matter where in the state you travel, the same gun laws apply.

Unfortunately, the law contains no penalties for violations because no one ever imagined that local elected officials and government workers would willfully and knowingly violate state law.

The absence of penalties has lead to many intentional violations and has resulted in subsequent lawsuits to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens.

Over and over again, NRA attorneys have written letters to local governments informing them that proposed ordinances violate state law. Unfortunately, when their lawyers confirm that the ordinance would be illegal, they usually also explain that there are no penalties for violating the law -- consequently, some jurisdictions have arrogantly thumbed their noses at state law and have passed illegal ordinances anyway.

In 2000, the City of South Miami was one of the cities that NRA lawyers wrote concerning a proposed ordinance that violated state law.

The City's external counsel confirmed that it was a violation, but also noted that there were no penalties. We were informed that city Commissioners were told that without penalties, they could do what they wanted to do. Further, an illegal ordinance would stand until the City was sued and a court declared the ordinance void.

The rights of law-abiding gun-owners were being violated, so NRA sued.

NRA won the lawsuit and, in fact, the appellate court even noted in its opinion that the court had previously ruled that local ordinances violate state law.

The court refused to award NRA attorney's fees. But nobody said the City couldn't use tax dollars to pay their own expenses and pay outside counsel to defend their illegal actions. That is egregious.

So, not only did they violate the rights of residents but then they used their tax dollars to pay the legal fees of those who intentionally did it.

It is not the NRA's responsibility to enforce state law, but nobody else will do it because there are no specified penalties.

A local attorney is currently suing Lee County for violating the state preemption law.

In the Lee County case, not only did state Representative Paige Kreegel tell them their ordinance was illegal, but then-Attorney General Bill McCollum also told them.

This has to stop!

SB 402 provides penalties for local officials, local governments and agencies that willfully and knowingly violate the preemption law. These penalties are severe to deter further violations.

It is clear that some jurisdictions are predisposed to violating the law in the absence of severe penalties. That's why the bill provides felony penalties for those who willfully and knowingly participate in the violation and up to a $5 million dollar fine for the offending entity.

Sound extreme? In 2004, the legislature passed legislation prohibiting any form of gun registration or the compiling of any lists of gun owners or guns. The penalties are identical to those in this bill; that's why they're in this one.

Gun registration schemes, lists and data bases that violated the law suddenly were destroyed. To our knowledge, there have been no intentional violations since that law passed. There have been no prosecutions under that law. It has been the ultimate deterrent. Anyone who has unintentionally violated the law has immediately taken action to come into compliance when notified.

This is not about putting people in jail or imposing big fines -- unless absolutely necessary. We just want local public officials, elected and otherwise, to quit violating the state law and stop trampling the rights of Florida's law-abiding gun-owners.

Please continue to check your e-mail and www.NRAILA.org for updates on SB 402.

 

[Endangered Species]

We need a law to make it illegal to violate the law? That's a symptom of something no law will ever fix.

 

[collegeboy]

Endangered Species -

How right you are - it's especially depressing to think that it is our elected officials that make this necessary.

OTOH most laws are written with penalties spelled out in the body of the legislation. This section of 790 did not enumerate the penalties - obviously, a mistake - now to be corrected - we hope!

Note for all -
I see Senator Paula Dockery is a member of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. I wrote her a letter asking for her support of the Open Carry Bill - her Legislative aide responded that she is in favor of the bill. I also saw where she is a co-sponsor on one of the other related bills. It appears she is pretty much in support of reasonable gun laws.

 

[apvbguy]

letter sent, please take a moment to send one out

 

[collegeboy]

Sent e-mail in response to another thread on this Forum.

Glad to see there is more than one person giving everyone a heads-up on crucial actions needed!

 

[High Seas Drifter]

Score! I either received a real, personal response, or his aid just signed his name. Either way...

From: DEAN.CHARLES.WEB [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2011 4:38 PM
To: Xxxxx Xxxxxx
Subject: RE: SUPPORT SB-402 -- Stop local governments from violating state law.

Xxxxxx-

Thank you for voicing your support of Senator Negron’s Senate Bill 402. As a lifelong member of National Rifle Association, I understand these issues firsthand. Senate Bill 402 would help protect the rights of gun owners by providing penalties for government officials who violate state gun preemption law. On Tuesday, Senate Bill 402 was found favorably by the Criminal Justice Committee, a committee I serve on. I put three amendments onto Senate Bill 402 to strengthen the bill for law abiding gun owners. When voting upon this issue, I will keep your support in mind. You can follow Senate Bill 402 by logging on to www.flsenate.gov. Once again, thank you for writing to me and please continue to write to me on issues important to you.

-Charlie

No one else responded.

 

[apvbguy]

I received the same response from him, at least one guy is on the ball

 

[TheSaiga308]

Results for SB 402 and HB 45...

Alright!!!!!!!!!
They passed in both the Senate Criminal Justice Committee (SB 402) and the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee (HB 45)!

We no doubt have to pass this also in future votes to make it law but we are on the way to doing so. :dancingbanana

Here are the results please take the time to THANK those who voted to uphold the rule of law and protect YOUR firearms rights:


===========================================================================
** REPORT on Rounds 1 & 2 **
Stopping Firearms Preemption Violations by Local Government Officials across Florida

DATE: February 8, 2011
TO: USF & NRA Member and Friends
FROM: Marion P. Hammer
USF Executive Director
NRA Past President

REPORT ON ROUND 1 ** STOP Local Governments across Florida From Violating State Law

Senate Bill 402, introduced by state Senator Joe Negron (R-28), was heard today, February 8 in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. SB 402 PASSED by a vote of 3 to 2.

SB 402 would provide penalties for government officials, local governments and agencies that willfully and knowingly violate the state firearms preemption law. There are no penalties currently in the law.

Voting to uphold Florida law, the Constitution and to protect your firearms rights were the following::thumsup

Senator Greg Evers (R-2) [email protected];
Senator Charlie Dean (R-3) [email protected];
Senator Paula Dockery (R-15) [email protected];

Copy this to your TO: field: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Voting against punishing local officials for violating Florida law were::thumbsdwn

Senator Gwen Margolis (D-35) [email protected];
Senator Chris Smith (D-29) [email protected];

Your e-mail to Senators was very effective (profuse thanks for your help).

REPORT ON ROUND 2 ** House Subcommittee to Hear Legislation to STOP Governments Across Florida from Violating State Law

House Bill 45, introduced by state Representative Matt Gaetz (R-4), was heard today, February 8 in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. HB 45 PASSED by a vote of 10 to 4.

HB 45 would provide penalties for government officials, local governments and agencies that willfully and knowingly violate the state firearms preemption law. There are no penalties currently in the law.

Voting to uphold Florida law, the Constitution and to protect your firearms rights were the following::thumsup

Representative Dennis Baxley (R-24) [email protected];
Representative Rich Glorioso (R-62) [email protected];
Representative James Grant (R-47) [email protected];
Representative Gayle Harrell (R-81) [email protected];
Representative Charles McBurney (R-16) [email protected];
Representative Keith Perry (R-22) [email protected];
Representative Ray Pilon (R-69) [email protected];
Representative John Tobia (R-31) [email protected];
Representative Carols Trujillo (R-116) [email protected];
Representative Charles VanZant (R-21) [email protected];

Copy this to your TO: field: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]


Voting AGAINST the bill and therefore against punishing local officials for violating Florida law were::thumbsdwn

Representative Daphne Campbell (D-108) [email protected];
Representative John Julian (D-104) [email protected];
Representative Ari Porth (D-96) [email protected];
Representative Perry Thurston (D-93) [email protected];

ABSENT: Representative Dwight Bullard (D-118)

Thanks again for all the e-mails to your Senators and Representatives. They listen when you speak.

BACKGROUND AND WHY THESE BILLS ARE NEEDED

In 1987, the Florida Legislature passed a firearms preemption statute (f.s.790.33) to provide uniformity of gun laws -- in fact, it is called the "Joe Carlucci Uniform Firearms Act."

It was intended to stop local governments from making criminals out of law-abiding citizens just because they simply crossed a city limit or county line. It was intended to provide uniform gun laws so that no matter where in the state you live and no matter where in the state you travel, the same gun laws apply.

Unfortunately, the law contains no penalties for violations because no one ever imagined that local elected officials and government workers would willfully and knowingly violate state law.

The absence of penalties has lead to many intentional violations and has resulted in subsequent lawsuits to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens.

Over and over again, NRA attorneys have written letters to local governments informing them that proposed ordinances violate state law. Unfortunately, when their lawyers confirm that the ordinance would be illegal, they usually also explain that there are no penalties for violating the law -- consequently, some jurisdictions have arrogantly thumbed their noses at state law and have passed illegal ordinances anyway.

In 2000, the City of South Miami was one of the cities that NRA lawyers wrote concerning a proposed ordinance that violated state law.

The City's external counsel confirmed that it was a violation, but also noted that there were no penalties. We were informed that city Commissioners were told that without penalties, they could do what they wanted to do. Further, an illegal ordinance would stand until the City was sued and a court declared the ordinance void.

The rights of law-abiding gun-owners were being violated, so NRA sued.

NRA won the lawsuit and, in fact, the appellate court even noted in its opinion that the court had previously ruled that local ordinances violate state law.

The court refused to award NRA attorney's fees. But nobody said the City couldn't use tax dollars to pay their own expenses and pay outside counsel to defend their illegal actions. That is egregious.

So, not only did they violate the rights of residents but then they used their tax dollars to pay the legal fees of those who intentionally did it.

It is not the NRA's responsibility to enforce state law, but nobody else will do it because there are no specified penalties.

A local attorney is currently suing Lee County for violating the state preemption law.

In the Lee County case, not only did state Representative Paige Kreegel tell them their ordinance was illegal, but then-Attorney General Bill McCollum also told them.

This has to stop!

These bills provide penalties for local officials, local governments and agencies that willfully and knowingly violate the preemption law. These penalties are severe to deter further violations.

It is clear that some jurisdictions are predisposed to violating the law in the absence of severe penalties. That's why the bill provides felony penalties for those who willfully and knowingly participate in the violation and up to a $5 million dollar fine for the offending entity.

Sound extreme? In 2004, the legislature passed legislation prohibiting any form of gun registration or the compiling of any lists of gun owners or guns.. The penalties are identical to those in this bill; that's why they're in this one.

Gun registration schemes, lists and data bases that violated the law suddenly were destroyed. To our knowledge, there have been no intentional violations since that law passed. There have been no prosecutions under that law. It has been the ultimate deterrent. Anyone who has unintentionally violated the law has immediately taken action to come into compliance when notified.

This is not about putting people in jail or imposing big fines -- unless absolutely necessary. We just want local public officials, elected and otherwise, to quit violating the state law and stop trampling the rights of Florida’s law-abiding gun-owners.

Please continue to check your e-mail and www.NRAILA.org for updates on SB 402 and HB 45.