Gun owners to march through Venice (FL openly carrying guns)

[jpak]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110722/ARTICLE/110729877/2055/NEWS

Anyone strolling through Centennial Park in Venice on Saturday morning may suddenly be surrounded by scores of people with handguns openly strapped to their waists.

At 9 a.m., perhaps as many as 100 gun-toting folks will begin marching for about a mile along West Venice Avenue to the beach, ostensibly to fish. But the larger goal in this first-ever demonstration in Florida is to showcase a loophole in Florida's "open carry" prohibition, which has banned the unauthorized display of firearms in public since 1987.

Under Florida gun statutes, for the past 24 years it has been legal for licensed gun owners to carry a concealed weapon at any time. But it is also legal to carry a weapon openly — and not concealed – while hunting, fishing or camping.

And yet, the gun owners who descend on Venice Saturday will be putting to use a far less well-known part of that law that also allows guns to be carried openly while "going to or returning from" fishing, camping or hunting.

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[damntexdem]

1. Well, I'm sure there's a stadium nearby adequate to hold 1000 arrested scumbags.

Convict them and take away their concealed-carry permits.

Thre's no reason for society to accept idiotic posturing like this.

Except that it's Florida, where the pols in charge are as likely as brainless as these scum.

[bellcrank]

4. Yeah boy! How DARE these brainless scum engage in legal activity.

Put 'em in a 2nd Amendment Zone.

[gejohnston]

7. convict them of what?

[friendly_iconoclast]

9. "Offending his sensibilities", it would seem. Or maybe "Causing grievous moral harm"?

Strange how some DUers will readily advocate false arrest when their prejudices are tweaked...

[friendly_iconoclast]

17. On second thought, some false arrests may ultimately be a *good* thing.

A false arrest in Canton, Ohio will probably bring around the downfall of that states' notification law.

[hack89]

18. Why do you want to arrest people for NOT breaking the law?

do you like police states?

[SteveM]

19. Kinda authoritarian of you, huh? How many more Americans do you consider "scum?"

[oneshooter]

25. From his previous entries into this forum

I would tend to believe that anyone who owns a firearm, has owned a firearm, or possably will own a firearm are all the same. (scum)

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[PavePusher]

21. "civil disobedience"... you might want to look that phrase up....

as it has served the public well for some time now.

And yet it still does not actually apply here, as these people plan to do their protest entirely within the law, a point you seem to have issue with.

I thought only Freepers made douche-bag suggestions like yours, with bigotted justification like yours.

Seriously, apply the same reasoning to any Progressive topics; gay marriage, global warming, free speech, etc, and see how far that gets you.

Good luck with your hate-mongering.

[spin]

24. All that would accomplish is to piss off the gun owners in Florida...

and cause support for open carry to grow.

Most of the gun owners I know are happy with the gun laws in Florida. We can carry a loaded firearm in our car if it is "securely encased" (in a glove box) without a license. We don't have to register firearms or get a permit to buy one. We can stand our ground if we encounter an intruder in our home or on the street. We can leave our firearms in our locked cars in our employer's parking lot. We can carry a firearm concealed in public if we have a license and that license does not require the approval of some local bureaucrat or sheriff but is "shall issue." We can open carry if we are hunting, camping or fishing or going to and from these activities.

This year, Florida passed a law that eliminates legal problems for inadvertently flashing a legally concealed weapon (for example when getting in or out of a car). This means that I have to have less concern when carrying a full sized handgun under a concealment jacket or clothing.

I personally have no desire to carry openly. I don't enjoy intimidating people or becoming an obvious target for some criminal who wants to try to grab a handgun.

[classof56]

2. Smiles, everyone, smiles!

:eyes:

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[Kolesar]

5. Chamber of Commerce could put *that* on their promotional literature

I am sure that will help property values :sarcasm:

[PavePusher]

22. So, "property values" are of more concern to you than Civil Rights?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbusting

Fuck. That. Freeper. Shit.

[ThatPoetGuy]

6. Too bad they're not marching through Venice, Italy. nt

[east texas lib]

8. Well by all means, just roar on down there and give 'em all a piece of your mind!

Be sure to send us timely updates.:D

[gejohnston]

10. the law is originally written in 1893, a precedent set Florida Supreme Court

says they should get off because they are white

Watson v. Stone, 4 So.2d 700, 703 (FL 1941)

I know something of the history of this legislation. The original Act of 1893 was passed when there was a great influx of Negro laborers in this state drawn here for the purpose of working in turpentine and lumber camps. The same condition existed when the act was amended in 1901 and the act was passed for the purpose of disarming the negro laborers and to thereby reduce the unlawful homicides that were prevalent in turpentine and saw-mill camps and to give the white citizens in sparsely settled areas a better feeling of security. The statute was never intended to be applied to the white population and in practice has never been so applied. We have no statistics avail­able, but it is a safe guess that more than 80 percent of the white men living in rural sections of Florida have violated this statute. It is also a safe guess to say that not more than 5 percent of the men in Florida who own pistols and repeating rifles have ever applied to the Board of County Commissioners for a permit to have the same in their possession and there has never been, within my knowledge, any effort to enforce the provisions of this statute as to white people, because it has been generally conceded to be in contravention of the Constitution and non-enforceable if contested (Watson v. State, concurring opinion) .

“

[friendly_iconoclast]

12. Blatantly in violation of the 14th amendment. Looks like the law is null and void.

If the antis are foolish enough to press the point, Florida might become an open carry state.

I love having opponents that can't grasp the meaning of 'counterproductive'...

[CelticThunder]

11. We all know why. How embarrassing for them.

[X_Digger]

13. Care to stop chewing and spit it out? n/t

[friendly_iconoclast]

14. Care to explain the women among them for us?

Gun control advocacy- The last outpost of Freudian thought...

[jpak]

16. LOL!!!111

:toast:

[SteveM]

20. I'd say you didn't have the "juice" to explain, but....nt

[PavePusher]

23. Playing douche-bag today?

Or.... not so much "playing"?

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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