I could no longer be a member of Florida Carry. Not in good conscience anyway. It is my belief that the group no longer represents the gun owners of the Sunshine State but cater to a selected and very clannish subsection of armed Floridians who are not in for the rights but for the posing in Social Media and the massaging of their elevated egos.
I have no idea what happened to the young committed people I meet at the GRPC in Orlando in 2012, but the group now is dedicated only who those who Open Carry AR15s in piers for “fishing” the deluded dream that it will somehow convince legislators to pass an Open Carry bill next week. So far it has not come to fruition, in fact the opposite is true. Meet Senate Bill 634 – The Florida Carry Bill or Thank You For Making Open Carry More Illegal.
(h) A person engaged in fishing, camping, or lawful hunting
or going to or returning from a fishing, camping, or lawful
hunting expedition. A lawful activity under this paragraph may
not be conducted within 1,500 feet of the real property
comprising any school, house of worship, government building, or
guarded beach.;
I believe that an enterprising Florida county will find a way to use this bill (if passed) as a way to also restrict hunting unless the hunter can shoot from inside the rifle or shotgun case. And yes, once taken to court, the arrest will probably be vacated, but the person will be out several thousand dollars.
But back to the original point: When you are a Gun Rights organization, the idea is not to help add more gun control bills or get the people against Gun Owners, but just the opposite. This seems to have been lost among Florida Carry overseers who seem to be more interested in “shocking the Normals” than actually advance good legislation.
When tried to make this points, I was pretty much branded as impure,
unerwünscht and a traitor for not accepting that there is only one answer: No Gun Laws at all and now. Any other consideration will be verboten. Incrementalism is a bad word for them. An 80% goal achievement is considered 100% failure and akin to treason that should not be tolerated. As much as I commune with the general principle, experience has taught me that there is a pragmatic way to see things, and that philosophy is neither strategy nor tactics. That 10% left unachieved in the present is to be the next goal, not the excuse to bring everything down and remain in the same spot we started. The Clique in Florida Carry calls it compromising with the Enemy (treason) and want nothing to do with it. That kind of insane purity test should have been stopped long ago but it seems it is now part of the DNA of the group and that is reason one why I am leaving.
Reason 2 is based in something more damaging to Gun Rights: Cop Killing Fantasies. Now, you know and I know that the members of this clique are probably a bunch of keyboard warriors that at the first sounds of incoming fire by a SWAT team, they will probably scream in fear and join Moms Demand to prove they were never like that. But to paint all Law Enforcement as Redcoats that will be taken care of the same way as in 1776 and similar posturing is stupid bravado that will be used against all Florida Gun Owners. It is not hard to be a member of the secret Florida Carry page, just pay the annual $25, get a membership card and ask to be let in. Now imagine if an enterprising member of the Opposition sneaks in and spends couple of weeks collecting screen captures of Florida Carry member spouting this nonsense and anti-cop memes so they can later post all over the internet? Do you think they will be kind enough to say “Hey, this is just a very small minority of malcontents, the majority of Gun Owners are law-abiding citizens.” Not in a million years. We are all gonna be painted as cop killer wannabes and Florida Carry will be providing the tar unless they finally decide that is not appropriate conduct for the Group.
I do believe Florida carry does not comprehend the level of disgust they have among Florida Gun Owners and that is our fault: We were so intent on presenting a united front, we ignored this type of behavior the way a parent tries to minimize and excuse the fact that the young one of the family is killing the neighborhood cats and setting small fires for fun.
We cannot longer afford to ignore this knife at our throats.
What are the other options in the state? Not a challenge more so just curious about the options .
Those retards actually do serve a purpose. They make the rest of us look sane and serve to move the Overton window back in our direction for a change.
Miguel, while I respect your decision I have to stress that FC does a lot more than just organize OC fishing events. There is A LOT of behind the scenes legal and legislative work that, for the most part, goes unheralded by FC. Likewise, these actions are largely ignored by the state’s media, because they’re not as photogenic as dudes on a pier with fishing poles and ARs.
If FC is guilty of anything, it’s not tooting their own horn enough.
Trust me, I’ve been involved in more than a few behind-the-scenes operations with FC leadership.
For example, when a public housing community threatened to stop allowing their workers to carry during the workday, FC taught their CEO the error of his ways, thus restoring the 2A rights of hundreds of workers.
Also, FC is critical during a legislative session. Again, much of their lobbying work goes unnoticed by the general public, but they play a vital role.
When I uncover some outrage — someone at risk of losing their guns or 2A rights — I know I can always count of FC for help.
You should also know I’m not a FC member because, as a journalist, I cannot write about any group of which I’m a member.
I hope you’ll reconsider. As a gun owner and a proud Floridian, we could not survive without them.
There’s a lot more going on than just dudes on a pier.
“If FC is guilty of anything, it’s not tooting their own horn enough.”
And I congratulate what they have achieved, but nature abhors vacuum and this is being occupied by the OCIs and Anti Cop factions. And I know you understand the importance of perception but they do not.
They are already seen as a political Pro Trump group for one stupid lapse of flag use risking their non-profit status. Imagine what could happen with a few selected screen caps of idiots comparing cops to redcoats.
They need to clean up their Facebook Home ASAP. One wrong article citing the factions and all their good work is for naught.
It isn’t a new problem. FC has been fixated on the OC fishing for years, and the chest thumpers were drawn to that like moths to a flame. I left FC two years ago for the same reason.