A Lauderdale Lakes lawmaker is again trying to direct taxes from the sale of firearms and ammunition in Florida into a trust fund for school safety instead of the general revenue stream.
via Safe Schools Trust Fund legislation back.
On principle, any tax that targets guns and ammo for pure political BS can kiss my less than well-rounded set of buttocks. In fact, you can apply that rule to taxes in general, specially since more than half of my property taxes already go to schools and I have no kids that are either going or even went through the school system thus there was never a load I should have to be paying to begin with.
However, what this bill seems to be doing is establishing a sterile zone of 500 feet around school property where nobody can have a gun, period. No exceptions made for driving by, living or working near/next to the school. I might be reading it wrong, but the only chance you have to save yourself from being charged is to surrender your weapon to a school authority once you find out you have violated the sterile zone. So, as usual we are bound to have a certain amount of stupid laws introduced, this time by Rep Hazel Rogers of District 95 (Lauderdale) who surprising nobody is a Democrat import from New York.
This bill need to take a short trip down Memory Hole.
http://www.flsenate.gov/laws/statutes/2011/810.0975
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=53277
If you’re feeling froggy down there see if FL Carry can amend the bill to remove the 500 foot rule and add funding for REAL school safety for guns, like Eddie Eagle.
The Legislature already provides funding for school safety at the tune of $64 million. Plus screw that…
Can you transfer your gun to a school official without going thru an FFL? Seeing as how “a school official” is a government agent, won’t they be liable for the state (and thus federal) sales and other transaction taxes? Do they have the proper taxpayer ID?
But more to the point – since you will be forced to turn over your personal property to a government agent/agency, the provisions of the Takings Clause of the 5th Amendment come into play. Who gets to set the fair market value of your gun? What schedule will they use for depreciation or appreciation?
Bet Hazel Rogers never contemplated so many pesky details. I’d love to see her bill fail because it does not address those points. (I’d love to see it fail for any reason, but failure for technical deficiency is just about as embarassing as you can get.)
stay safe.
“I might be reading it wrong, but the only chance you have to save yourself from being charged is to surrender your weapon to a school authority once you find out you have violated the sterile zone.”
So, the only way to save yourself after inadvertently violating the “sterile zone”, is to violate the “sterile zone” further, by entering the actual school building, speaking to an administrator, and transferring a firearm without either a 4073 or a background check?
Am I the only person tempted to measure out a distance exactly 500 feet from the property, paint a line on the ground, and protest the crap out of this thing from inches outside the enforceable area?
Sigh… They just don’t get it… AGAIN!
How do they justify making money from something while making it harder to have or use? Reminds of cig taxes. Charge more tax, while at the same time trying to banish it? Freaking stupid.