PALMETTO (WWSB) -Since the Broward County school shooting, the state has made sure security is tight around Florida schools.
At Manatee School for the Arts they have put a safety measure in place that is a little different than other schools across the Suncoast.
Because Manatee School for the Arts is a charter school, they’re allowed to make their own rules about security. Just a few months ago they decided their school guardian would carry around a military-style long gun along with a handgun.

Manatee school guardian carries military-style gun

I read somewhere that Hope is not a sound tactical strategy. I am sure that there will be people pulling their hair and tearing their clothes at the idea that their precious babies must be in the same acreage as an Evil Black Rifle, even in the hands of a trained person.

“We’ve had a couple of incidents and we just called and they’re here in three minutes. Unfortunately, you look at parkland and in three minutes how many people were killed. So you know you can’t expect much more from the police, there’s only so much they can do and the rest of it is your responsibility,” said (The school’s principal, Dr. Bill) Jones.

This is somebody who read the Parkland Report and I am sure was horrified to find out most of the dead and wounded happened in the first three minutes. And we know that three minutes is a fantastic police response time, but physics and time cannot be bypassed. The response to an attack must be as immediate as possible.

Dr. Jones said there’s been mixed reaction to the gun in the school so far, but overall it’s been positive. He said another guardian who will also carry a long gun will start working at the school very soon.

Well double good: Good reaction from the people and doubling down on security. May it keep the students from harm.

At this late hour, lots of very dark videos allegedly coming out of the zone of Petare, east of Caracas which is low-income and basically slums filled with criminals. Appears there is/was some shooting and reports of a couple of grenades being tossed.

Twitter user commenting that the National Guard and the Bolivarian National Police were quelling earlier street protests and thing went south. Criminals pulled out their guns and started to exchange rounds with the government forces.

Some civilians are supporting the armed criminals and say they are defending the poor. Others defending the government forces and saying they are doing what’s to be done to keep the peace. Both set the civilians so far still do not realize that coming daybreak, they will still be under the boot of one group or the other.

The irony…

Police said Bartlett didn’t have a conceal carry permit for the gun, which was loaded and resting on the front passenger seat.

While in custody, Bartlett asked police, “Why am I being arrested when those kids are free to ride around? I did pull out my gun, but I never pointed it at them.”

Man arrested after video shows him holding gun while slinging racial slurs at black teens

IANAL WARNING.
He did not get charged with anything else, but he is going to be investigated for Hate Crimes because he used the November word.  The prosecution can always up the charges to Assault with a Deadly Weapon (and not pointing does not cover your ass) but the video seems to suggest the cops did not want to charge a man for coming to the defense of his girlfriend. The moment they surrounded and screamed at her , they kicked up the problem. Would a reasonable man think that his girlfriend was in imminent danger of death or grave bodily harm?

Click here to see three videos of the event. Not only you will see the specific happening with Mr. Bartlett, but other angles prior to that one. Sorry, but  people wearing masks in South Florida even if it was “cold” for our standards (70 degrees was the high that day) make me a little nervous.

Now, what are the lessons here? 1) Don’t go looking for trouble. I am gonna bet that the girlfriend is the type of getting insulted by stupid shit just for the sake of starting a fight and then say “My boyfriend is gonna kick your ass.”  2) Besides the obvious mistake of Bartlett having this woman for girlfriend, he failed to get a concealed weapons permit. I know, you can carry a gun in your car without a permit but in an specific manner specifically ” securely encased or is otherwise not readily accessible for immediate use.”

When in 1999 when I  bought Jon Gutmacher’s book FLORIDA FIREARMS — Law, Use & Ownership, what struck me in it  was his insistence that people should get a CWP whether they would carry every day or not, as it would save you trouble with the many pitfalls within the 790 statutes.  Back then there was so much little crap that could get you in trouble, it was not funny and the permit would shield you from that.

So, if you are a Floridian and have not gotten the book, go get it now , read it and then read it again. I will bet you there is stuff you did not know you could end up in trouble about guns.

And choose girlfriends wisely.

Yes, that was sexist, but women do tend to be better selecting partners.

IANAL Warning, but we know how slimy politicians can be and we are trained for that. I did a glance and basic reading of it. There is a lot of crap we already seen in other bills and I don’t want to repeat. One quickie is that if you decorate .22LR rifles a certain way, they can be considered Assault Weapons.

In order of appearance:

A part or combination of parts that convert a firearm
into an assault weapon or any combination of parts from which an
assault weapon may be assembled if those parts are in the
possession or under the control of the same person.

Lower Kits, Upper Kits verboten. You don’t need to have a finished firearm, just the “pieces.”

On semi auto pistols:

The capacity to accept an ammunition magazine that
attaches to the pistol at any location outside of the pistol
grip;

I guess they still have a hard on for the TEC 9. They need to quit that wet dream.

(IV) A manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the
pistol is unloaded;
(V) A semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm;
(VI) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding
grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(VII) A folding, telescoping, or thumbhole stock

This is “We hate pistol ARs, Dracos and anything in the same vein.”

c. A semiautomatic shotgun that has one or more of the
following:
(I) A folding or telescoping stock;
(II) A pistol grip, a thumbhole stock or Thordsen-type
grip or stock, or any other characteristic that can function as
a grip;
(III) A thumbhole stock;
(IV) A fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds;
(V) An ability to accept a detachable magazine; or

“We hate Benellis too!”

(b) Any person who transfers, sells, or gives any assault
weapon or large-capacity ammunition magazine to a person under
18 years of age in violation of this section commits a felony of
the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s.
775.083, or s. 775.084, with a mandatory minimum term of
imprisonment of 6 years.

“Hey Junior, hold this mag for me… crap, I am now a felon.”

(3) POSSESSION.— 230
(a) Except as provided in subsection (5), any person who,
within this state, possesses any assault weapon or large-
capacity ammunition magazine, except as provided in this section
or as otherwise authorized by law, commits a felony of the third
degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s.
775.084, with a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 1
year.

Followed by the “You can kiss my ass” Assault Weapon registration :

(4) CERTIFICATE OF POSSESSION.—
(a) Any person who lawfully possesses an assault weapon or
large-capacity ammunition magazine prior to October 1, 2019,
shall apply by October 1, 2020, or, if such person is a member
of the military or naval forces of this state or of the United
States and is unable to apply by October 1, 2020, because he or
she is or was on official duty outside of this state, shall
apply within 90 days of returning to the state to the Department
of Law Enforcement, for a certificate of possession with respect
to such assault weapon or large-capacity ammunition magazine.

The certificate shall contain a description of the assault
weapon or large-capacity ammunition magazine that identifies it
uniquely, including all identification marks; the full name,
address, date of birth, and thumbprint of the owner; and any
other information as the department may deem appropriate. The
department shall adopt regulations no later than January 1,
2020, to establish procedures with respect to the application
for, and issuance of, certificates of possession pursuant to
this section. The thumbprint of the applicant shall be taken by
a law enforcement agency or the Department of Law Enforcement
together with any personal identifying information required by
federal law to process fingerprints.

Yeah, those states where this has been put into law ha worked so well, right? 90% or more non-compliance? You will be subjected to a Background Investigation. I find that an interesting choice of words: Not a background check but a background investigation.  What does that entail? Voting record? Social media presence? You own a MAGA hat and that disqualifies you? Very vague and very worrisome. That leads me to the following:

(e) If an applicant for a certificate of possession under
this subsection fails to qualify for such a certificate after
the investigation required under this subsection, the applicant
shall arrange to relinquish all assault weapon or large-capacity
ammunition magazines in his or her possession as provided in
subsection (7) within 10 days of issuance of the notice of such
failure.

“Mr. and Mrs. Florida, turn them all in!”

This is just absurd: If you are caught with enough drugs to make it a charge of felony possession and you happen to have nearby an empty high cap mag, you just earned a mandatory 15 prison sentence.

and during the commission of the offense, such person possessed
a semiautomatic firearm and its high-capacity detachable box
magazine, an assault weapon or large-capacity magazine as
defined in s. 790.301, or a machine gun as defined in s.
790.001, shall be sentenced to a minimum term of imprisonment of
15 years.

And the grand finale.

If any provision of this act or its application
to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity
does not affect other provisions or applications of the act
which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are severable.

This is to tell courts that if they find something unconstitutional in the law (already admitting they are being unconstitutional) they can only use a very narrow red pen to delete the offending part and must leave the rest intact.  Basically, if this bill becomes law, it forces to have the defendants to attack every chapter and subsection against a state with all the money to waste in court.

Goes without saying that this and all Gun Control bills need to be killed forcefully. You know your Reps and Senators, but I really want you guys to dedicate yourselves to make interestingly busy the life of RINO Bill Galvano who is the Senate’s president and has a price tag attached to his ass that says “Fully Paid by Michael Bloomberg.”

The gloves are off.

It seems that faux-Native American activist and “victim” of high school kids Nathan Phillips is also carrying the badge of Stolen Valor. Apparently he was an advisor in Vietnam with  Marine unit that did not exist when he was all of 17-18 years of age.

And the memes already flying.

HB 455 – Assault Weapons and Large-Capacity Magazines by Representative  Carlos Guillermo Smith (D)

Assault Weapons and Large-Capacity Magazines: Prohibits sale, transfers, or possession of assault weapon or large-capacity ammunition magazine; provides exceptions; requires certificates of possession for assault weapons or large-capacity ammunition magazines lawfully possessed before specified date; provides conditions for continued possession of such weapons or large-capacity ammunition magazines; requires certificates of transfer for transfers of assault weapons or large-capacity magazines; provides for relinquishment of assault weapons or large-capacity magazines; provides requirements for transportation of assault weapons; provides enhanced criminal penalties for certain offenses when committed with assault weapon or large-capacity magazine.

Just gave it a glance, and this goes past just Evil Black Rifles. IE: Semi auto pistols that have “ A slide that encloses the barrel and that permits 
the shooter to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned;” Correct me if I am wrong, but a lot of pistols have a slide like that.  And they also added an old favorite ” A semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm“:

And they did not forget shotguns either! Any shotgun with a “A fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds.” Do I even asks how many old timey shotguns have suddenly transformed into Assault Weapons? (cue somber fanfare)

I am going to read the whole bill later and see what other crap they added.

Creates another Gun Free Zone.

15. Any performing arts center or legitimate theater

I seem to recall somebody in Colorado… Aurora to be precise where the theater was tagged Gun Free Zone and the fella ignored the sign and went on a mass killing.

I shall call this bill the James Eagan Holmes Celebration Bill.