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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/AP) Gun owners and defenders of the second amendment saw success during the 2014Floridalegislative session, but one battle is still being waged.
Major wins came in the form of the warning-shot bill which protects people from mandatory sentences when they threaten to use a weapon in self-defense and the pop-tart bill that keeps children from being punished for playing with imaginary guns or wearing clothing with images of firearms.
The biggest loss was legislation to extend carry and conceal privileges during a declared state of emergency. The bill was killed, in part, by a late push from theFloridaSheriffs Association.
Those who hoped to see changes in the stand your ground law were left empty-handed.
I told my constituents when I left to come to Tallahassee that the second amendment would be safe, said Sen. Greg Evers, R-Pensacola. I feel reasonably sure that we held true to that. In fact, we made some headway. The second amendment is definitely safe, so my folks back home are going to be happy.
Both Evers and Marion Hammer, a lobbyist and former NRA president, said the carry-and-conceal issue is not going away.
The sheriffs association argued that the language in the bill (SB 296) was too open-ended and left room for interpretation without time and place specifications. Hammer called that argument just a smoke screen.
It was never about anything other than their convenience and the fact they didnt want citizens carrying guns, Hammer said.
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