Tag: Orlando, Florida

The Story: The Orange County Drug Free Office, in central Florida, is offering Narcan, the spray used for treatment of opioid overdose emergencies, and training...

Orlando’s Democratic state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Fort Lauderdale’s Democratic state Sen. Gary Farmer are trying again with bills to ban the possession or sales of assault weapons. Smith filed his bill late Tuesday and Farmer is planning on filing a companion bill, to ban the civilian purchase or possession of military-style assault weapons and large capacity magazines. House Bill 455 calls not just for a ban on future sales, but for the relinquishment of currently owned assault weapons, which the bill explicitly defines as any of dozens of specifically listed makes and models, or similar weapons the bill contends are “selective-fire firearm capable of fully automatic, semiautomatic or burst fire at the option of the user.” The bill makes possession after July 1, 2020, a third-degree felony, punishable by a year in prison. Similar bills were filed in each of the past two Florida Legislature Sessions, first as a response to the 2016 mass murder at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, and then for that and the 2018 mass murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The issue splits pretty evenly along partisan lines with Republicans holding fast to the argument that guns are protected by the federal Second Amendment, meaning the Democrats’ bills likely have no more chance this year of being heard anywhere. “Gun violence prevention is an essential part of any comprehensive plan to address school safety as well as the safety of the general public. We owe it to the victims and families of MSD, of Pulse and of everyday gun violence to keep assault weapons off our streets and to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. I will continue fighting this fight for as long as it takes,” Smith stated in a news release issued by his office Tuesday. That news release also included a statement from Farmer: “The single common denominator for many of these senseless mass shootings is the use of these weapons of war. It is our obligation to pass this legislation to ensure the safety and security of our children in our homes and communities.”

Tough news for Adam Putnam continues to pour out of an inspector general’s report showing his staff botched review of hundreds of conceal carry permit applications. MORE IG WOES — “Putnam’s office mischaracterized interviews for concealed carry investigation, withheld records from media,” by POLITICO Florida’s Matt Dixon: Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam’s bid for governor has been dogged over the past month by an explosive report that his office didn’t fully review applications for hundreds of concealed carry gun permits. His department’s own investigators signed off on a final report looking at the issue that said every interview conducted with department staff was done under oath and recorded, but according to records reviewed by POLITICO, two key interviews were not. Read more. In May 2017, Eric Robinson — a Sarasota County School Board member and an accountant well known for representing Florida Republican political committees, including Curry’s — wired $119,797 from one of Curry’s main political committees, Build Something that Lasts, to four different addresses ranging from Wyoming and Ohio to Missouri. The payments were purportedly for catering and consulting services, paid to people with no known connection to Curry or anyone who runs his political operation.” Read more GOING GREEN — “Algae problems impacting election-year politics,” by Ocala Star Banner’s Zac Anderson: “Environmental protection quickly is becoming a big issue in the 2018 election as more toxic algae blooms slime estuaries, kill sea life and choke coastal Florida communities with foul air. But on the 2016 campaign trail, then-candidate Trump promised to nominate ‘pro-life’ justices to the Supreme Court in order to overturn the landmark 1973 abortion rights case, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in all fifty states.” Read more ** Presented by AARP: There’s only one true deciding factor in this year’s elections: 50-plus voters. ENVIRO POLITICS — “Political muscle halts release of Lake O’s foul water. ‘I can tell you from where I sit … never has the outcry from the public within downtown been as high as it’s been over the last six months for us to do something about aggressive panhandling,’ Thomas Chatmon, executive director of the Downtown Development Board, testified at a recent Community Redevelopment Agency meeting.” Read more TOUGH JOURNEY — “Torres: Local teens make it to Port-au-Prince safely amid rioting and violence in capital,” by Florida Today’s John A. Torres: “The saving grace in traveling to a country like Haiti is that people are inherently good. Then find a major city in that state that also has this property.