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Luis Valdez writes:
HJR-291 and HB-673 may soon make it to Florida Governor Rick Scott’s desk. They would exempt Florida law enforcement from the state’s mandatory three-day waiting period on firearm purchase. Actually, it’s longer than that.

Current law mandates a three-day wait for handgun purchases and no wait for long gun sales. But Florida counties are allowed to amend the regulation to increase the waiting period to five days for both. (Of course weekends and holidays don’t count.)

Florida conceal carry weapon (CCW) permit holders are exempt from the waiting period, having jumped through the State’s legal hoops: application, fingerprints, nonrefundable fees, mandated class, background check, etc.

Under State Chapter 790 of the Florida Criminal Statutes. Law Enforcement Officials are granted exemptions from all but one of the requirements for a CCW permit: they have to pay the fees.

The State now wants to give police officers an additional exemption, so they can exercise their gun rights without the government interference bedeviling “ordinary” citizens.

HJR-291 (passed 115-1 ) HB-673 (passed 117-0) on a bipartisan basis. The Republicans and Democrats can work together in the House to pass those two bills but choose to bash SB-616 (Courthouse Gun Check In) upon the rocks in the sake of passing SB-10 (Everglades Water).

The bipartisan sponsors of the legislation, Rep. Don Hahnfeldt (R) and Rep. Robert Asencio (D) believed the carve out is needed and recognizes the training given to Law Enforcement Officers.

And somehow Speaker of the House Richard Corcoran (R) can find the time to get this voted on but not SB-616. (Florida Republicans killed another Pro-Gun bill in the last week of the Legislative Session.)

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“This bill will help protect Floridians in every town, city, and county by making sure our tax dollars are being properly spent to ensure officers are properly equipped to fight crime and keep our communities safe,” Rep. Asencio (D) said in a statement released by the FL House Democratic Office. “It is commonsense measures like these that continue to move our state forward.”If signed into law; it would be a change to the State Constitution via the 2018 general election ballot. Ultimately voters would have a say. (Thank God)
The gun rights protections guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Second Amendment apply to all American citizens. Carve-outs are unfair, unconstitutional and unjustifiable. Besides, the Florida waiting period is a dangerous and useless provision that should be removed, not “tweaked” in favor of a protected class.
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Luis Valdes is a Floridian of Cuban descent and 23 year NRA member that takes his on personal vacation time to fight for better gun laws in Florida. He’s an avid shooter and devoted husband that fight at expanding the 2nd Amendment for all. More info at Lou4NRA.org.

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25 COMMENTS

    • The bottom third? How long have you even lived in Fl? It’s the east coast, Orlando, Jacksonville and Tallahassee. The south west coast except the college town of Tampa is as red as it gets.

  1. The three day pistol wait is more like five. You purchase on Monday and can’t pick up until Friday. It’s three full days. CCW are exempt from this. I figured cops had CCWs. Cops should have a CCW mandate in their training. Then this carve out would be mute. Cops are civilians. A real democracy has one set of laws for all citizens. Unfortunately we live in an oligarchy with two sets of laws.

    • “A real democracy has one set of laws for all citizens. Unfortunately we live in an oligarchy with two sets of laws.” I hate to tell you, we are neither; we are a republic. And many laws have exceptions. Just like your CCW exempts you from waiting three days, because the background check you went through exceeds what is required to purchase. Just like attorneys can notarize without taking the notary test, nurses can challenge the paramedic exam, and so on…
      The training and background check one goes through to become an LEO far exceeds what is required for a CCW, so they SHOULD be exempt. And no, I am not an LEO, I’m a firefighter. I just have common sense.

  2. The bipartisan sponsors of the legislation, Rep. Don Hahnfeldt (R) and Rep. Robert Asencio (D) believed the carve out is needed

    Cops NEED to avoid the waiting period, despite being issued effective self defense arms by their employers, but the rest of us don’t have that need? Are they going to die waiting for a gun when they already have a duty pistol? If not, why is skipping the waiting period a “need” and not a “want”?

    That said, we’re talking about civil rights here, not civil needs.

    Now, you might assume there is no benefit to subjecting those who passed the background checks and obtained carry licenses or LE employment to waiting periods, but how can you assume that there are any benefits to subjecting anybody else to waiting periods?

    • As I said in the article.

      Police Officers can get permits just like everyone else. I’m a police officer and I have my CCW permit. I jumped through the hoops to get mine before I became a cop and I still do what needs to be done to keep it active.

      The badge does not grant me a title of nobility. We aren’t European and we don’t have royalty with a court of nobles granting titles and knighthood.

      Me carrying a badge as part of my employment should not grant me special privileges outside of official duties. Especially when it comes to being off duty.

      Rep. Asencio (D) said the following:

      “This bill will help protect Floridians in every town, city, and county by making sure our tax dollars are being properly spent to ensure officers are properly equipped to fight crime and keep our communities safe,” & “It is commonsense measures like these that continue to move our state forward.”

      I haven’t in my entire career need to privately purchase a duty weapon. Every duty handgun I’ve used in my career has been agency issued. Agencies have no issue ordering directly from the manufacturer. This doesn’t save the tax payer anything nor does it do anything to properly equip officers and allow them to fight crime.

      This is an exemption and a carve out for cops that are too lazy to fill out the application for a CCW permit and pay the $60 fee to the State. We already get an exemption from the requirement to get training and finger prints since we’re sworn. The military gets the same exemption. They sent in their DD-214 or their current active duty creds and do the same as police.

      But John Q Public is still forced to either get a CCW or have their rights denied through delay. Because a right delayed is a right denied.

      Enough of the carve outs and special exemptions for government agents.

      Luis Valdes
      Lou4NRA.org

      • You’re making the point that exempting government agents from the laws applied to the serfs is an equal protection violation. And that’s a very good point.

        I was trying to make two other points:
        1. LE do not have any particular need to have instant access to gun store inventory, in fact they (and anybody else who already has a decent handgun in their possession) have less need than the population at large.

        2. Any legislator treating the 2A as “need-based” needs to have his employment based somewhere that he doesn’t have the power to play games with other peoples’ rights.

      • Thanks for that detailed response

        I do have to wonder how this carve out is going to make the public safer as claimed? Does an off duty officer somehow magically make them more likely to prevent a shooting or robbery than an on duty officer?

        What’s the physical property of nature that makes an off duty officer more likely to be present at a potential crime scene

      • I’m very disappointed by the overwhelming support given to this bill by lawmakers. I’m not surprised, but I’m disappointed. I’ve sent strongly worded messages to all involved parties, not that it’s likely to help.

        Just as you said, the only thing a cop needs to avoid the waiting period is a CCW permit, which, with the carveouts already in place, only requires that they pay a $50 fee for 5 years. Cops don’t need more carveouts. We need to look at the once they already have and evaluate whether they’re really necessary.

  3. Well both Dems and reps are content with a police state. Funny when Dems are against cops because they target minorities yet believe these minority targeting authority abusing cops should be the only people armed? Politicians and hypocrisy what would they be without it?

  4. I guess that the carve-outs for shooting Fido and flash-banging the baby’s crib just weren’t enough for Officer Friendly.

  5. Well, why not? Every other state that has a waiting period exempts police officers, why not Florida?
    Actually, I am kind of surprised that officers need a CCW to carry off duty. Many jurisdictions require their officers to carry off duty, and being sworn, they have the right to bear arms pretty much always, unlike the rest of us who have to prove that we are worthy. Do plain clothes detectives have to get a Florida CCW to carry concealed?

    • Federal law means cops do not need a conceal carry license to be within the law.

      Agency policy, however, can differ.

      • Florida law also exempts current LEO’s from having to have a CCW. Their LE status is sufficient. Doesn’t matter what agency policy says about carrying off duty. However, if done contrary to agency policy, they are under no obligation to stand by or support an officer who uses a firearm when off duty. Under those circumstances the officer is treated as any other citizen.

        • Having said all that, I can’t imagine why any LEO wouldn’t make the (minimal) effort to obtain a CCW. That was always my advise to our officers and those going through the academy with other agencies.

    • AFAIK, Florida does not impose a waiting period on issue firearms, nor have I heard anybody mention one before you.

    • Surgeons use scalpels issued by their employers (imagine if they were free to use instruments they found in their garage?). Likewise, law enforcement employees use firearms issued to them by their employers. You made a silly comparison based on a false concept.

  6. Bah, all of this is dumb. I’m surprised Florida even has these waiting limits, it seems like a firearms friendly state. Of course I’ve lived almost my entire life in states where we would see a ‘three day waiting period’ as nothing.

    If regular conceal carry permit holders can do it too it’s not a ‘carve-out’. I guess the idea is that permit holders already have a gun, so there’s not much reason to make them go through a waiting period; the same thing would apply to cops …who have had to go through PLENTY of ‘government interference’ much beyond what a permit holder does btw. Background investigations, polygraphs, drug testing, mandatory qualifications, medical exams… when your average permit holder has to go through all of these things to carry we can talk about carve-outs.

  7. Cops are civilians so why an out for them??
    Floriduhs legislature is such a bunch of fools and Im being nice.
    Doesn’t matter what part of the state one lives in anymore. You cant depend on any of the states representatives to do anything they say they will.
    The state legislature needs a cleaning out and a fresh start.
    It couldn’t be any worse with a bunch of newbies.

    • We already have term limits. Eight years; two four-year terms for senators and four two-year terms for representatives. It already gets a cleaning out, so to speak, a lot more often than federal legislators. There are valid arguments on both sides of that coin. And, yes, it can get worse with newbies. Believe me, having been responsible for legislative issues for my agency, it can get a LOT worse with newbies.

  8. Why not just issue CCWs to all Police. Problem Solved, they have the training. Sometimes it seems like the government always takes the hard way to do something.

  9. This was not about the ability for LEO’s to carry concealed. They can carry under HR218 in all 50 states. It is about the waiting period only. So all you cop haters go right on and keep hating until you need a cop.

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