In the wake of Parkland, the Florida legislature overreacted. They immediately passed gun control. In particular, they barred long gun sales to adults under 21 and they passed a red flag law.
Now, the age limit for long gun sales is under fire, and one of the people most willing to see it die is the attorney general, which is upsetting some.
See, there's been a challenge to the law, and the most recent court decision went in the favor of the state, upholding the law. Yet the AG is hoping the plaintiffs will appeal, because he's not going to fight it, and it seems some people are upset.
The Parkland community was distraught, gun vendors were unmoved and legal experts were skeptical when Florida’s attorney general said he wouldn’t enforce a law – recently upheld by a U.S. appeals court – banning the sales of rifles and shotguns to anyone under 21.
Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, said he disagrees with a federal appeals court’s recent decision upholding the age restriction, passed in the wake of a 19-year-old gunman killing 17 people at a Parkland high school in 2018. In a memo, he said his duty to defend Florida's statutes is trumped by his duty to uphold the Constitution.
“I must depart from this Office’s prior judgment,” he said. “In this instance, I cannot escape my judgment that the Florida statute is unconstitutional as applied to law-abiding adults under the age of 21.”
...The news upset Fred Guttenberg, who became a gun safety advocate after his daughter, Jaime, died in the Parkland massacre.
“That hypothetical example you used isn’t actually so hypothetical,” said Guttenberg, 59. “There was a thing called the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, and I visit my daughter in a cemetery because of it.”
The attorney general’s announcement doesn’t mean those aged 18 to 20 will be able to purchase rifles and shotguns from licensed vendors. Three firearm vendors – in Tampa, Brevard County and Gainesville – said they won’t begin selling firearms to those under 21 because of Uthmeier’s announcement. The sale of firearms will still violate existing state law, and state prosecutors could decide whether to prosecute violators.
“When you sell somebody a firearm,” said Timothy Scully, 59, who owns a shop just north of Melbourne Beach, “you really have to cross your t’s and dot your i’s.”
Stephen Schnably, 70, a constitutional law expert at the University of Miami and a registered Democratic voter, said the move was an insult to the Legislature and democracy.
“I don’t think a state attorney general should refuse to enforce or defend a statute as unconstitutional unless there’s a very serious reason for it,” he said. In doing so, the attorney general’s office is ignoring the will of the Florida Legislature, effectively rendering their law useless, he said.
Of course, there is a reason for it. The law itself is unconstitutional in his view. If you don't like it, vote against him when he runs for re-election.
As for Guttenberg, it should be noted that he's not a "gun safety advocate." He's a gun control advocate, which is a different animal entirely. He has yet to find any anti-gun measure he doesn't support, so his lashing out about this one isn't shocking. He's mostly made his career being a jackwagon on gun issues and pretending that the loss of his daughter, while tragic, is also a license to trample all over our rights.
Not every Parkland parent agrees with him on these matters. Ryan Petty is a contributor over at our sister site, Bearing Arms. He lost his own daughter at Parkland. Somehow, the media always forgets to check in with him to get his take on it.
Funny that.
It should be noted that they're bothered that Uthmeier also said his office likely wouldn't prosecute sales of firearms to adults under the age of 21, which a lot of people are worked up about as well.
Yet it should be noted that the state usually isn't the prosecutor for these kinds of crimes in the first place. Saying he likely wouldn't prosecute could well have simply meant that it wouldn't be on his desk in the first place, which is true.
Regardless, the truth is that the AG isn't a fan of this law in the least, and that means you're unlikely to see him come out and vigorously use it.
It's kind of nice to see, actually.
